Palestinian officials were often more concerned with applying pressure to Hamas than easing the crisis in Gaza.
Ali Abunimah
Al-Jazeera
"Senior Palestinian Authority officials expressed frustration that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were able to evade the tight Israeli siege of the territory by breaching the border wall and through tunnels to Egypt. One, Ahmed Qureia, even suggested to then Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in 2008 that Israel reoccupy the Gaza-Egypt border area to keep Gaza sealed and to help "defeat" Hamas.
These revelations appear in hitherto secret minutes of meetings involving Palestinian, Israeli and American officials leaked to Al Jazeera as part of The Palestine Papers....
On 23 January 2008, Hamas blew up part of the border wall with Egypt near the Rafah border crossing. In the following days tens of thousands -- some estimates say hundreds of thousands -- of Palestinians poured into Egypt to buy food, fuel, medications and other goods that had become scarce or unaffordable in Gaza, or to meet friends and family stranded on the Egyptian side.
Many Palestinians celebrated the breach in the border wall as an act of justified resistance against the siege, which the International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned as "collective punishment," a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
But Ahmed Qureia, a senior official in the Palestinian Authority and Abbas' Fatah faction, was angered by the border wall breach and appealed for Israel to step in to reseal it. On 4 February 2008, Qureia along with Palestinian negotiators Saeb Erekat and Salah Ilayan met with then-Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and adviser Tal Becker at the Sheraton Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem.
During a conversation about the border wall breach Livni asked Qureia, "Did the opening of the borders appear to be a victory for Hamas?"
Qureia, also known as Abu Ala, answered, "Yes, they appeared to have ended the siege." Livni observed that the Egyptians "don't do enough" to keep the border closed "and we're sure they can do much more."
At this point Qureia asked, "What can you do about Philadelphia Crossing?"......"
Ali Abunimah
Al-Jazeera
"Senior Palestinian Authority officials expressed frustration that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were able to evade the tight Israeli siege of the territory by breaching the border wall and through tunnels to Egypt. One, Ahmed Qureia, even suggested to then Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in 2008 that Israel reoccupy the Gaza-Egypt border area to keep Gaza sealed and to help "defeat" Hamas.
These revelations appear in hitherto secret minutes of meetings involving Palestinian, Israeli and American officials leaked to Al Jazeera as part of The Palestine Papers....
On 23 January 2008, Hamas blew up part of the border wall with Egypt near the Rafah border crossing. In the following days tens of thousands -- some estimates say hundreds of thousands -- of Palestinians poured into Egypt to buy food, fuel, medications and other goods that had become scarce or unaffordable in Gaza, or to meet friends and family stranded on the Egyptian side.
Many Palestinians celebrated the breach in the border wall as an act of justified resistance against the siege, which the International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned as "collective punishment," a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
But Ahmed Qureia, a senior official in the Palestinian Authority and Abbas' Fatah faction, was angered by the border wall breach and appealed for Israel to step in to reseal it. On 4 February 2008, Qureia along with Palestinian negotiators Saeb Erekat and Salah Ilayan met with then-Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and adviser Tal Becker at the Sheraton Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem.
During a conversation about the border wall breach Livni asked Qureia, "Did the opening of the borders appear to be a victory for Hamas?"
Qureia, also known as Abu Ala, answered, "Yes, they appeared to have ended the siege." Livni observed that the Egyptians "don't do enough" to keep the border closed "and we're sure they can do much more."
At this point Qureia asked, "What can you do about Philadelphia Crossing?"......"
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