Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Egypt's president struck back against critics throughout the region and said he would not fully open the crossing into the Gaza Strip unless the Palestinian Authority was in control of the border to preserve Palestinian unity.
Egypt has come under heavy criticism in the Arab world over its refusal over the past year to open the Rafah crossing, which has helped complete an Israeli blockade of the territory. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni also visited Egypt just before the assault, leading many to accuse Egypt of giving a green light to the attack.
"We will not deepen the division and that breach [among the Palestinians] by opening Rafah border crossing in the absence of the Palestinian authority and the European union monitors," Mubarak said, referring to the 2005 agreement over the border.
Egypt resists dealing with Hamas because it opposes the group's 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip and fears a spillover across the border of its terrorist influence.
Egypt insists Abbas is the legitimate Palestinian leader and opening the border would only increase the separation between the two halves of the Palestinian territory.
Protests in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon have targeted Egypt, and on Sunday Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said the Egyptian government was "taking part in the crime" against Palestinians and called on Egyptians to rise up and force open the crossing.
Nasrallah's comments have been strongly condemned by Egypt's state-owned press and Mubarak described them as political posturing at the expense of the Palestinian people.
"We tell anybody who seeks political profits on the account of the Palestinian people: the Palestinian blood is not cheap," he said, describing such comments as "exploiting the blood of the Palestinians."
Mubarak added that he had demanded Israel "stop the aggression" against the Palestinians, and had opened the crossing to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and Palestinian wounded into Egypt.
In the past two days several truckloads of medical supplies have entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt and 36 Palestinians have been admitted to Egyptian hospitals.
