Word: egypts
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...Mubarak's security forces found themselves engaged in clashes with Palestinians demonstrating at the Gaza border against Egypt's enforcement of the Israeli blockade against the territory. Hamas, the Islamist party that governs Gaza and which is at odds with the Egyptian regime, had called the protest to pressure the Egyptians over their delay of a Gaza-bound aid convoy. Others came to demonstrate against Egypt's construction of an underground steel barrier meant to block off the smuggling tunnels that provide both a vital lifeline to Gaza's blockaded economy and a pipeline to resupply the arsenals of Hamas...
...Mubarak with the Israeli effort to topple Hamas by choking the life out of Gaza's economy has fueled a political backlash. "We are, of course, calling for lifting the siege, and giving the Palestinians a normal life," says Essam al-Eryan, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group. "But the Israelis and Americans are pushing Egypt to secure the Israelis. And this is not our duty ... the Palestinians are no threat to Egypt...
...killed, reportedly by a Palestinian sniper, and scores of Palestinians were injured. Earlier, Egyptian security forces had clashed with international activists accompanying a relief convoy that had originated in Britain, leaving more than 50 people injured. The group's leader, leftist British MP George Galloway, was expelled from Egypt on Jan. 9, after exiting Gaza...
...even basic goods to a bare minimum, the population will turn on Hamas. Israel has also presented most construction materials from entering the territory, which has prevented the reconstruction of thousands of homes and other structures damaged by last year's Israeli offensive aimed at stopping Hamas rocket fire. Egypt, which controls the only Gaza border crossing outside Israeli territory at Rafah, has cooperated in enforcing the blockade. It has also begun to move more forcefully against the tunnel economy. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East...
...Egypt, which depends on billions of dollars of annual aid from the U.S., says its actions in Gaza are driven by its own national interest. Not only is there pressure from Washington to stop smuggling into Gaza, but Mubarak is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and views Hamas as an ally of his own most feared opponents, the banned Muslim Brotherhood...