Israel to 'blame' for attack on Egypt border post: Hamas leader

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya says Israel is somehow behind yesterday's attack on Egyptian guards in Sinai and calls for the establishment of an Egyptian-Palestinian defence committee

Ahram Online & AFP , Tuesday 7 Aug 2012

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Hamas leader in Gaza Strip Ismail Haniya. (Photo: Reuters)

The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, has accused Israel of "responsibility" for the attack on the Egypt-Gaza border on Sunday that killed 16 Egyptian border guards and injured seven more.

"We call on Egypt to discuss all issues related to the mutual interests of Egypt and Palestinians," he added.

Egypt said 35 gunmen in Bedouin clothing on Sunday opened fire on the guards before crossing into Israel in an armoured vehicle. Israel said five gunmen were killed on its side of the frontier.

MENA, the official news agency in Egypt, reported that the gunmen were "jihadists" who "infiltrated from Gaza through tunnels in collaboration with jihadist elements" inside Egypt.

"No Palestinian wants to kill anybody in Egypt. Any attack against Egypt's security is also against the security of Palestinians," Haniya said in a statement issued after an emergency meeting of the Hamas government at the wake of the deadly attack.

In a related development, Haniya advocated the establishment of a joint Egyptian-Palestinian defence committee to permanently ensure the maintenance of "absolute security" between both parties.

"Egypt's security equals Palestine's security; both issues are inseparable", he said.

Haniya called on the Palestinian people to mobilise and join the Ramadan evening prayers in front of the Egyptian embassy in Gaza Strip as a sign of solidarity with the Egyptian nation.

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lili novak

08-08-2012 08:12am

sinai and the massacre

It is not interesting that, the Tel Aviv's travel advisory requested the tourists to leave Sinai BEFORE the attack????? How the Israelis knew about it ,why they didn't inform the Egyptians ???? Very fishy story,but don't forget that, the Jewish army killed six Egyptian soldiers in the last year too ,during Ramadan.

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dorotka60

08-08-2012 07:49am

do they really think that people are so stupid to believe in that????? all world knows that it's not Israel

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A woman

07-08-2012 10:09pm

Charta of Hamas

Read the "Charta of Hamas" (available on Google), then you know the aims of those people concerning Israel and Jews... It's shocking!

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Hind

09-08-2012 02:06pm

Charta of Hamas

One can see Hasbara verry active on Al Aram: Watch "The Most Complet Map of Palestine in 1948" on Google, displeases. I wonder why, as it's only History.

Mona

08-08-2012 02:48am

(available on Google)

Watch the most complete Map of Palestine before 1948.

hamash tinbakir

07-08-2012 07:47am

""Egypt's security equals Palestine's security"?!

Read this line from Haniya again. It is not a statement of fact; it's a threat. Egypt has different interests than the ruling regime of Hamas/Gaza. Egypt's economy thrives on tourism and stability; Hamas thrives by being an agent of 'resistance' and unrest, every now and then sending a few rockets at cities in the 'self proclaimed Jewish state' (or it is 'zionist entity'?). The palestinians have been doing amazingly well taking care of their strategic goals; it would be interesting what would happen if Egypt borrowed a page from their strategies.

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James Livingston

07-08-2012 06:05am

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Attack on Egypt

All the hall marks of an Israeli operation. The small arms of the Egyptian border guards would ensure a safe getaway for the armored Israeli vehicle that was sighted leaving the scene.

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don

07-08-2012 03:48am

ISMAIL AND THE PALS

These Hammas are hard cases. I hear tell the Pals are nearly broke. I seem to remember the Saudis passed millions to them. What happened to that money?

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Who loves ya' baby!

07-08-2012 12:24am

10+

who believes this stuff???

"Israel is responsible, one way or another, for this attack to embarrass Egypt's leadership and create new problems at the border, in order to ruin efforts to end the [Israeli] siege of the Gaza Strip," Haniya told the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel on Monday. "We call on Egypt to discuss all issues related to the mutual interests of Egypt and Palestinians," he added. - thats all you need to know about this guy. here's an idea, Egypt should call on Egypt to discuss all issues related to the interests of Egypt.

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Mona

07-08-2012 09:08pm

Who believe "this stuff" ???

This escalation comes just FIVE days after Tel Aviv said that it have recieved a letter from Egyptian President, wich reportedly outlined the new President's desire to work jointly with Israel on getting the Midlle East Peace process back on track, but according to his spokesman, Morsi never whote such letter ???

ali

07-08-2012 02:24am

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mossad agent

there are mossad agents in and out of egypt. Im glad politicians are not going to fall for this rubbish what Israel claims. Israel is known to carry out terrorist attacks by deception to reach its goal.

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