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Palestinian Arabs

Gaza-Sinai border breached, again

Northern Gaza 'no-go zone' fails to protect Ashkelon


By Ryan Jones
January 05, 2006

The Palestinian Authority again demonstrated its inability to govern its own people Wednesday when it failed to prevent a group of terrorists and their supporters from smashing through the Gaza-Sinai border fence and swarming into Egypt.

The Egyptians too, whose security forces along the border numbered upwards of 3,000, refused to take affirmative action to stop the 1,000-strong mob.

Two Egyptians soldiers were killed and dozens wounded when members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades wing of the PA's ruling Fatah faction bulldozed through the concrete wall and onlookers poured through the breach.

They were not given the necessary orders to open fire on intruders.

It was the second time the border has been breached in such a way, the first coming just hours after Israel completed its withdrawal from Gaza in September of last year.

These violations of the international line have occurred despite a full range of promises from the international community, the Egyptians and the Palestinian Authority that the border would be kept under control and not allowed to become a greater source of terrorist arms smuggling than it was before.

Israeli Defense Minsiter Sha'ul Mofaz sent a firm warning to Cairo that if it continues to allow anarchy along the border, Israel will be forced to act.

The Gaza-Sinai border has been described by defense officials as the lifeline of the ?Palestinian? terrorist war against Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel's decision to create a ?no-go zone? in northern Gaza in order to curb ?Palestinian? rocket attacks on the southern coastal city of Ashkelon proved less than adequate Wednesday.

Two Kassam-class rockets were fired at Ashkelon, home to a major Israeli power station, despite Israel's enforcing of the buffer zone with artillery and air power.

Another six rockets were fired at the nearby Negev town of Sderot. A dozen projectiles targeted Sderot the day before.

Ha'aretz reported that IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz conceded Tuesday that the no-go zone policy, under the name Operation Blue Skies, provides only a partial solution to the threat to Ashkelon, and no solution at all to the constant aggression against Sderot's residents.

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