I'm confused? Why doesn't Gaza shoot rockets at Egypt?

[skippy66]

If Egypt does not allow the Gaza residents to leave, just like Israel, why doesn't Hamas shoot rockets at Egypt?

[Luminous Animal]

1. Because Egypt doesn't partition their land, usurp their land, and doesn't deploy their military to

keep them imprisoned within their increasing shrinking land. Also, Egypt doesn't bomb the crap out of them.

[WillyT]

2. Gaza... Doesn't Shoot Rockets...

Hamas does...

[dballance]

3. Very good point! Thanks.

I believe that if anyone objectively looks into it the vast majority of the Palestinian people are not shooting rockets at Israel and don't want to. It is some political extremists in Hamas firing rockets. I believe that the vast majority of Palestinians would love to just have a stable country where they can own businesses, import and export, travel freely, have clean water and electricity. Unfortunately, the extremists who used to do the frequent terrorism by crossing out of Gaza and the West Bank and committing terrorism like suicide bombings, bus bombings, car bombings, etc. ruined it for all the Palestinians. I'm not saying those people had no valid grievances. I'm pretty sure they did/do. I take umbrage with the manner in which they dealt with these grievances.

Just like I'd be willing to be the vast majority of Israeli's would be more than happy for all this to be over as well. There are certainly extremists in Israel, the Likud, who I think, will not rest until they push the Palestinians into the seas or into other Arab nations. Of course, during the establishment of Israel there was no shortage of terrorists acts by the Israelis in defense of their cause. Menachem Begin was, infamously, one who committed what could be called terrorist acts in the name of Zionism and establishment of the Jewish state.

I really tried to walk the fine line here and be fair. If I have offended anyone please educate me in a manner that will make me less ignorant in the future.

[WinkyDink]

5. We've never really made such a distinction before, have we? Al Qaeda, not Iraq? Nazis, not Germany?

[Iggo]

4. Yes, you are.

[bravenak]

6. You're not confused.

You are trying to confuse, but you are not that good at it.

[MADem]

7. Egypt turns a blind eye to transit of goods and personnel through tunnels.

There is a black market operative in that region.

And they have no quarrel with Egypt.

Egypt does have an accord with Israel, and they understand that.

They're capable of more nuance than the Dubya-style "With me or agin' me" bifurcated paradigms.


If you want to know more about the tunnels, have a look at this:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140721-gaza-strip-tunnels-israel-hamas-palestinians/

[skippy66]

8. Egypt Shuts Down The Smuggling Tunnels

I want to thank you for a reasoned response. Here is a link showing why Egypt recently shut down the smuggling tunnels.
http://www.mepc.org/articles-commentary/commentary/palestinians-gaza-under-pressure-tunnels-shut-down?print

My point is that Egypt has a border with Gaza and does not allow the free flow of trade, like Israel. They are complicit in the imprisonment of the Gaza people. Egypt is given a free pass in this conflagration.
I concede Israel does have settlements that are infringing precious land that is available. Egypt has sided with the Palestinians when it is politically convenient. Right now it is not convenient.

[MADem]

14. They shut down enough tunnels to get people off their backs.

I would bet that border is not truly "sealed."

Also, during times of humanitarian crisis, Egypt has been known to open the border. 80 or 90 thousand Palestinians live in Egypt as refugees.

That said, Egypt had that curious double election recently, where they elected Morsi, he wiped his ass on the Constitution, wrote a new one, fired people, started ruling by decree, and got thrown out by the very guy (religious, too) that HE chose to rule his military (oh, the irony). Now that guy is running the show, after a 2nd turn at the ballot box. USA, even though they didn't care for Morsi's methods and his backward approach to things like women's rights, equality, and child marriage, affected a preference for him owing to the whole "democracy" thing, so now al-Sisi is under the gun to "play ball."

Truth is, Egypt relies on a lot of people--including USA--for foreign aid. And they need it more than ever because their tourism dollars just aren't happening. It's Ramadan (finishing up next Monday, people are tired of not eating/drinking all day--it's fun at first, the last week is the worst), it's HOT, and people get killed over there--it's just not a friendly place these days. They aren't going to make matters worse for Israel. They want Hamas to STOP doing what they are doing, for the status quo to resume, and this is one way to force their hand.

[JI7]

10. this was probably one of the ways the muslim brotherhood and hamas were in contact

and yes, we give a lot of money every year to egypt and israel not to go to war with each other.

[Nevernose]

9. They DID shoot rockets at the Egyptians

That's why the Egyptians closed down their side of the border in 2012 (although there were also suicide bombers, machine gun madmen, etc). Beyond that, there's no large civilian populations within range to the south.

[skippy66]

12. Thank you

That makes sense. I'm assuming you mean its mostly desert and low population density on the Egyptian side.

[Marrah_G]

11. because Gaza is not part of Egypt and Egypt isn't the one oppressing them?

[intaglio]

15. Enjoy your stay n/t