[Peace-discuss] Rana Baker: Egypt's coup does not bode well for Palestinians

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/10/egypt-coup-palestinians-morsi-gaza

 Egypt's coup does not bode well for Palestinians

The liberals standing by the army's side to oust Morsi should think of
those in Gaza about to live again under the blockade

   - [image: Rana Baker] <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rana-baker>
   -
      - Rana Baker <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rana-baker>
      - guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/>, Wednesday 10 July 2013
      08.16 EDT

[image: Palestinian travelers gather at the Rafa]
Palestinian travellers wait at the Rafah crossing with Egypt in the Gaza
Strip this week, which has been closed by Egypt's armed forces since the
coup. Photograph: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images

When Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February
2011<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/11/hosni-mubarak-resigns-egypt-cairo>,
Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip joined the celebrations of millions
of Egyptians. Mubarak, after all, was the enforcer of Israel's siege on
Gaza and allowed Tzipi Livni, then Israeli foreign minister, to initiate
"Operation Cast
Lead"<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/14/tzipi-livni-israel-gaza-arrest>
from
the heart of Cairo.

Under the now-deposed president Mohamed Morsi, conditions in Gaza got
slightly better:travel through the Rafah
crossing<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/28/egypt-gaza-border-reopened-palestinians>
became
easier and less humiliating than under Mubarak, activists who had long been
denied entry to the coastal enclave by Egyptian security forces were
finally able to cross, and high-profile visits also became possible. These
changes, however, were relative: Palestinians in Gaza still waited, without
reason, for hours in order to be let into Egypt, and Mubarak's policies of
destroying tunnels and restricting travel for men under 40 continued. These
factors, in addition to the Palestinians' spontaneous allegiance with the
Egyptian people's demands, explain why many Palestinians criticised Morsi
and supported his ousting.

What no one considered were the implications of a military coup. This time
the change does not seem to bode well for the Palestinians. The border with
Egypt has already been closed by the armed forces, Palestinians landing in
Cairo airport are being deported back to the countries they flew in
from<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/egypt-deporting-palestinians-trying-return-gaza>,
tunnels have been demolished, and army-instigated anti-Palestinian
propaganda is rampant across Cairo. The situation in Egypt has become an
obsession and wherever one goes in the Strip, grim predictions are made
about a return to a Mubarak-era blockade.

This scenario is made more likely by the fact that Egyptian liberals and
secularists previously opposed to the blockade are now being fed news of
Palestinian armed groups sent by Hamas to aid the Muslim Brotherhood and
conduct "terrorist operations" against the Egyptian army. Interestingly,
such news is often published citing anonymous sources and without evidence
of the arms claimed to have been seized by the Egyptian police.

One liberal group that enjoys high credibility and facilitates the armed
forces' efforts is the National Salvation
Front<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20667661>.
The NSF is spearheaded by Mohammed ElBaradei, who is widely respected and
seen as a capable technocrat. The group made no secret of its support for
the military coup and ElBaradei appeared with the armed forces' chief Abdel
Fatah al-Sisi as he delivered the speech that unseated Morsi. The NSF fig
leaf gives plausibility to statements such as that made to the BBC by an
army general claiming that Morsi's good relations with
Hamas<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/warning-humanitarian-catastrophe-egypt-tightens-siege-gaza>
was
a driving factor behind the coup.

Hamas is indeed in trouble. In a very short time, it has lost major
regional allies. Iran, Syria and Hezbollah no longer support the group,
because of its position on Syria. The Muslim Brotherhood, which lifted
Hamas's years-long international isolation, is gone from electoral politics.

If a more secular government takes over, Hamas will be fought against and
undermined: secularists and liberals already see Hamas as an enemy given
the group's perceived support for and relations with the Brotherhood. But
beyond these agendas they must recognise that close by sit 1.7 million
people whose lives continue to be determined by political conflicts in
which they have no hand.
-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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