Gaza and Hizballah
By David Schenker
Israel completed its fifth day of air operations against Hamas in Gaza today. Meanwhile, throughout the Middle East, battle lines are being drawn between “moderate” Arab regimes like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt and the militant camp, led by Syria, Iran, and their Lebanese ally Hizballah. Recent days have seen a flurry of verbal attacks launched against the “moderates,” accusing these states of not being supportive enough of Hamas.
The war of words reached a fever pitch earlier this week after Hizballah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah essentially called for civil insurrection in Cairo to compel the Egyptian Government to open the Rafah border with Israel ala August 2008 when Hamas destroyed the border fence allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to enter the Sinai.
These are some excerpts from Nasrallah’s December 28 speech:
“We are facing a partnership by some Arab states, and a complicity by some other Arab states concerning events in our region…These Arabs are asking Israel to wipe out Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the rest of the resistance factions…they are demanding this and helping in this regard…“…we address the Egyptian regime, saying, O Egyptian officials, if you do not open the Rafah crossing, if you do not come to the rescue of your brothers in Gaza, then you will be partners to a crime, partners to the murders, partners to the siege, and partners to creating the Palestinian tragedy…
“O people of Egypt, you should open this crossing with your bare chests…I am not calling for a coup in Egypt, nor am I in a position to do so. However, I am for the generals and officers to go to the political leadership and address it, saying the honour of our military uniform….do[es] not allow us to see our kinfolk in Gaza slain while we guard the borders with Israel.”
Egypt, not surprisingly, has responded harshly to Nasrallah’s calls. During a press conference on December 29, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit said: "If you do not know, let me tell you that the Egyptian Armed Forces are there to defend Egypt. If need be, they will also protect Egypt against people like you.” During the same press conference, Abu al-Gheit described Nasrallah’s statement as “a declaration of war against the Egyptian people.”
Despite Nasrallah’s outspoken rhetorical stance on Gaza, it’s unlikely that Hizballah will open a second front against Israel ala summer 2006. I wrote an article about Hizballah and Gaza published yesterday by the Washington Institute. It can be found here.