According to the news, “masked gunmen” blew up the barriers separating Gaza from Egypt yesterday. Who were those masked gunmen? Israeli security forces abandoned the Rafah crossing at the urging of Secretary Rice; the EU bailed out when it became hazardous duty. Now Israelis seeking the cessation of the daily rocket bombardment from Hamastan will have to try a more direct approach than the half-hearted blockade that provided the pretext for yesterday’s Hamas operation.
UPDATE: It didn’t take much digging on the part of the Times of London to discover the provenance of the masked gunmen. A guard interviewed by the Times forthrightly indicated it was (as is obvious) a Hamas operation. I love this exchange with the guard:
The guard, Lieutenant Abu Usama of the Palestinian National Security, said of the cutting operation: “I’ve seen this happening over the last few months. It happened in the daytime but was covered up so that nobody would see.”
Asked whether he had reported it to the government, he replied: “It was the government that was doing this. Who would I report it to?”
Indeed.
MORE: Shrinkwrapped takes a look from a slightly different angle and wonders if it is “Good news from Gaza?”
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.