Monday, January 26, 2009

Israel happy with Egypt over gaza arms


Press TV

"Egypt has won Israel's praise for cooperating with the regime in its efforts to stop arms from reaching the Palestinian government in Gaza.

"There is an accumulation of weapons and equipment meant for Hamas in Sinai, but Egypt is preventing it from getting into the Strip," Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during a Sunday cabinet security briefing.

"We have created an effective diplomatic mechanism to stop smuggling by harnessing Egypt, the US and the European Union's support,” he added.

Barak also said Egyptian officials have discussed the arms smugglings with the head of Israeli Defense Ministry's Security-Diplomatic Bureau Amos Gilad in Cairo last Thursday.

The Israeli minister's comments came as Egyptian authorities completely sealed the Rafah border crossing into Gaza by deploying troops to the terminal, despite the dire humanitarian situation in the heavily bombarded coastal strip, which has been under a 19-month siege.

Hamas has also sharply criticized Cairo for refusing to keep the crossing open to wounded Palestinian people during the deadly Israeli offensive which killed nearly 1330 Palestinians mostly civilians........"

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