Word: mubarak
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...Egyptian authorities say the smuggling is illegal, and have blamed the porous border with Gaza for instability and terrorism in Sinai. Speaking on live television on Jan. 24, President Hosni Mubarak said, "We have started construction along our borders not to appease anyone but to protect our nation from terrorist plots like the ones that took place in Taba, Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab and Cairo...
...recently, Bedouin were implicated in a series of terrorist bombings that killed 130 people at Sinai beach resorts from 2004 to 2006. In the aftermath, some 3,000 Bedouin were arrested; up to 1,000 of them are still in detention, according to Ahmed Ragheb, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. He says that about 1,000 more are in prison for smuggling and related charges. The government has denied using abusive measures in Sinai, and there are no official statistics on the number of Bedouin in detention...
...perceived collusion of 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...
...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...
...while it may be ahead in the domestic p.r. game on Gaza thus far, the regime of the aging President Hosni Mubarak, who has held power for nearly three decades, is struggling to maintain legitimacy in the face of other domestic threats. Corruption, police brutality, a widening income gap and a recent spike in Muslim-Christian violence have added fuel to Egypt's disorganized but politically diverse opposition. And it may not be long before Gaza comes back to haunt...