Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
The border between Gaza and Egypt was established by the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Agreement, and is demarcated by an eight-to-nine-foot-high wall built in 2001 after an increase in Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Originally under Egyptian and Israeli control, Israel agreed to evacuate the 8-mile-long Egypt-Gaza border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, in September 2005 as part of its wider disengagement from Gaza. Under terms brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, an Egyptian Border Guard Force (BGF) was established to maintain security and prevent smuggling between Gaza and Egypt. The BGF is limited to 750 soldiers with light weapons and is strictly separated from the Egyptian military. The new force was deployed into the Philadelphi Corridor on September 10, 2005 and Israeli soldiers withdrew on September 12, 2005.
Nearly immediately after Israeli troops withdrew, Gazans overwhelmed the BGF and streamed into Egypt through the Rafah crossing, the primary gateway between Egypt and Gaza. Rafah is monitored remotely by Israel and by an on-site mission from the European Union under the November 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access. Egypt was able to secure the border a few days later, but smuggling has continued between Gaza and Egypt.
Israel has consistently complained that Egypt is not doing enough to stop smuggling into Gaza through underground tunnels dug between Egypt and Gaza. Egypt, however, has asserted that it does not have enough BGF to patrol the border effectively. On June 9, 2007, Egypt and Israel closed border crossings, including the Rafah crossing, after Hamas took control of Gaza. Although the EU monitoring mission has been extended until May 2008, it is not currently deployed at the crossing. Egypt claimed smuggling decreased shortly after Hamas took control, but Israel contends that smuggling has continued unabated. The United States recently intervened to attempt to remedy the situation. Egypt requested doubling the number of BGF to 1,500, but Israel rejected the request, stating that the problem is not the number of guards but a lack of motivation. Tension between Israel and Egypt regarding Gaza was growing even before recent events due to Israeli accusations that Egypt is complicit in the smuggling.
Current Situation
Early on January 23, 2008, masked gunmen blew a series of holes in the barrier separating Egypt and Gaza, in the culmination of work that may have begun as early as one month ago. Crowds developed and streamed through the holes and the Rafah border crossing, with Egyptian border guards making no attempt to stop them. Israel has protested Egypt’s loss of control of the border and one official has suggested that Israel no longer wants ties with Gaza. Egypt, however, has begun the process of reestablishing the border and has stated that this was a temporary response to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
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