Egypt not so welcoming these days. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock
The Israelis aren’t the only ones concerned about terrorism coming from the Gaza Strip—Ahram Online is reporting the Egyptians are demolishing more than 800 homes of their own people in the Sinai region that neighbors Gaza in an effort to create a buffer zone with the area dominated by Hamas terrorists. The report noted that the decision comes after massive tunnels were discovered running from Gaza into Egyptian Sinai and following a major terror attack on Egyptian soldiers in October.
Ahram Online said the military on Monday said they would double the width of the buffer zone, from 500 meters (.3 miles) to a full kilometer (.6 miles). Egypt’s military will be taking down tunnels in the region as well. The move shows that Gaza terrorism is a regional threat.
The Americans backed the Egyptian move last week, with spokesperson Jen Psaki saying in comments released by the State Department, “There have been some serious security challenges in the Sinai. We respect Egypt’s concern about their security in the area and support its right to self-defense. We also expect that they will ensure the rights of those being displaced are respected and that they are adequately compensated.”
These comments brought on some tough questions from reporters, who contrasted Psaki’s support for Egypt’s home demolitions with her critique of Israel demolishing terrorist homes. Psaki tried to argue that the situation was different, before finally having to change the topic.
She had claimed that Israel’s home demolition was somehow related to “predetermining” borders with the Palestinians, despite the fact that the Israeli approach is linked entirely to terrorists. The Times of Israel reported that the US comments followed Israeli plans to demolish the home of one of the vehicular terrorists, whose attack killed one person.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, November 17, 2014)