In Sderot, a conference that deals with the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict and 15 Gaza residence were able to get an visitor permit in order to participate. It's interesting to get a perspective into what they think and Ynet provides it.
While most Palestinians requested to remain anonymous, Mayin Shakafa, a community organizer was outspoken and was undeterred despite of worries for his family's safety.
Understandably so, Shakafa isn't happy about the Strip's isolation:
He also provided the crowd with his viewpoint of life in the Strip. "We are still holed up in Gaza and bringing everything through tunnels. Why must it be this way?" he asked.
Shakafa, however, does not hold Israel responsible for all his maladies:
According to WikiLeaks (via Ynetnews), Qatar and Syria tried to derail the Egypt mediated negotiations that would have resulted in the captive Israeli soldier released, and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners let go from Israeli prison. This comes from a discussion between Mubarak and a US general, which was cabled back to Washington:
According to the report, which is based on a WikiLeaks document, Mubarak claimed that Syria and Qatar offered Hamas$50 million to keep soldier Gilad Shalit in captivity in order to impede a prisoner swap deal with Israel brokered by Egypt.
The US general quoted Mubarak in a cable sent to Washington. The document does not specify whether Hamas accepted the offer and does not contain details regarding the proposed payment method.
Mubarak apparently made the comments three months before Israel received a video tape showing Gilad Shalit in what then appeared as a breakthrough in efforts to release him.
According to the Norwegian report, which was quoted in Al Jazeera and Palestinian media, WikiLeaks papers provide additional details regarding Egypt's involvement in the deal. Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, the former intelligence minister, had a major role in efforts to free the kidnapped soldier
Earlier this morning, the main pipeline transporting natural gas from Egypt to Israel was blown up. The attack took place in the vicinity of El Arish, the largest city in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula. As a result, the flow of Egyptian natural gas, which accounts for 25-40% of Israel's supplies, has ceased indefinitely. With the current instability and uncertainty in Egypt, it's hard to believe this pipeline is going to be fixed any time soon.
While some in Egypt try to calm the situation down and claim that the explosion was caused by a leak, I don't really by it. The northern Sinai is a bit like the wild west, especially now. Gangs of Bedouins rule the roads and a few days a go Egypt's border control with the Gaza strip collapsed, enabling an almost unrestricted flow of people in and out of the strip.
The Egyptians also claim that there was no real damage to the pipe and flow was suspended just as a precautionary measure.
Debka claim that this was a well planned military attack on the line, carried out by special units of the Hamas. While Debka is not the most trustworthy source, they have been fairly reliable on the Egyptian front, reporting that Obama is pressuring Mubarak to depart immediately, 3-4 days before the mainstream media collapsed.
While it is still difficult to make something out of the situation, it is a good indicator of things to come. The Egyptian revolution is just a week old and Israel is already facing the prospects of losing about a third of its natural gas supplies. If things progress the 'wrong' way in Egypt, the effects could be much harsher, impacting the rest of the world significantly.
-QP
Al-Manar is reporting that the deal between Israel and Hamas may be closed very soon. No details regarding the price Israel will have to pay have been included, or whether Hamas has become more flexible recently.
It just indicates that the Hamas seemed to have responded positively to the last offer sent to them by the German mediator.
If this is true, this could be big!
-QP
