Egypt doesn’t want to take the pressure off Israel, which it holds responsible for running Gaza.

This is a comment by Emad Gad, an analyst at Cairo’s government-funded Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. He explains that while the Gazans have lambasted Israel for the blockade, it is Egypt who has kept its border with Gaza largely closed.

Egypt has an interest in weakening Hamas, which rules the territory.

«Hamas is part of another coalition in the region – the Iran, Syria, Hizbullah coalition…[and] is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood», explains Gad. Under these circumstances, he says, Egypt has little reason to end the blockade.

Egypt also considers Hamas’ takeover of Gaza illegal, and says it cannot open the border to regular traffic without the return of Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and European monitors who operated the crossing before the Hamas takeover.

By refusing to sign a reconciliation deal that would allow the PA back into Gaza – despite months of Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation talks – Hamas is also responsible for the border closure, says Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki.

Source: Christian Science Monitor

My comment:

If Israel had done like Egypt, the rule of Hamas would have ended in Gaza within weeks.

But the humanitarian crisis that would have followed a complete blockade of Gaza, would not have been blamed on Egypt. The International community would have accused Israel of acts of inhumanity and war crimes.

Israel has its own interest in keeping humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza. As long as Hamas rule in Gaza, it is not possible to enforce on Israel a two-state solution. There have to be a three-state-solution, of «Fatahland» and «Hamastan» and Israel. Nobody wants that.

So Israel will not actively bring Fatah back in control in Gaza. The present situation is a perfect stalemate.