.Egypt Walls Up Gaza Border
RAFAH, Egypt (AP) - Egypt is building a 13-foot high concrete and rock wall interspersed with watch towers along its narrow boundary with the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas militants from breaching the border, an official said Thursday.
The wall, set back nearly 35 feet from an existing metal barrier, has guard towers every 100 yards. With it, Egypt hopes to prevent any future breaches like one in January when Palestinians broke through to escape an Israeli blockade, a security official said on customary condition of anonymity.
On Jan. 23, Hamas broke through the metal wall to let hundreds of thousands of Palestinians escape the blockaded Gaza. At first, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered his troops to let the Palestinians cross freely as long as they came to buy food and commodities.
But after 12 days, Egypt sealed its borders and strongly warned against any attempts to forcibly open the seven-mile-long border again.
"Work on the wall started as soon as Egyptian authorities closed the borders and they have completed about eight kilometers (five miles) of the wall," said Ashraf Barhoum, a local farmer living nearby.
MyWay
Nabil Fahmy, Egyptian Ambassador to U.S., discusses the ongoing effort for peace in the Middle East and Egypt's role in the region. Secretary of State Rice on Tuesday met with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak to gain support for renewed peace talks between the Israeli and the Palestinians, while Egypt talked with Hamas on a truce with Gaza.
Watch
The wall, set back nearly 35 feet from an existing metal barrier, has guard towers every 100 yards. With it, Egypt hopes to prevent any future breaches like one in January when Palestinians broke through to escape an Israeli blockade, a security official said on customary condition of anonymity.
On Jan. 23, Hamas broke through the metal wall to let hundreds of thousands of Palestinians escape the blockaded Gaza. At first, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered his troops to let the Palestinians cross freely as long as they came to buy food and commodities.
But after 12 days, Egypt sealed its borders and strongly warned against any attempts to forcibly open the seven-mile-long border again.
"Work on the wall started as soon as Egyptian authorities closed the borders and they have completed about eight kilometers (five miles) of the wall," said Ashraf Barhoum, a local farmer living nearby.
MyWay
Nabil Fahmy, Egyptian Ambassador to U.S., discusses the ongoing effort for peace in the Middle East and Egypt's role in the region. Secretary of State Rice on Tuesday met with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak to gain support for renewed peace talks between the Israeli and the Palestinians, while Egypt talked with Hamas on a truce with Gaza.
Watch
posted by madtom at 11:34 PM
1 Comments:
A comment for Khalid,
It don't look like you could find a fact, cold or hard, if it jumped up and bit you on the ass
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