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Egypt in the middle of it all

The sight of all those Gazan fleeing into Egypt following the breach or breaking down of that awful wall created by Israel, was in some respects amazing - and, then, not all that surprising. The pent up frustrations of the "imprisoned" Gazans spilled over, naturally enough. It is still early days to asses how this whole scenario will play out for Gaza, Egypt, the Palestinians, Israel and the so-called Peace process. The dynamics may well have changed.

The Guardian
reflects on how the events of the last days impact on Egypt:

"It has been an uncomfortable few days for President Husni Mubarak, watching anxiously as the crisis in Gaza spilled over onto his territory, focusing intense and unwelcome attention - both at home and abroad - on Egypt's role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Scenes depicting tens of thousands of people streaming across the breached border fence at Rafah, driven by desperation with the tightening Israeli blockade, graphically underlined the danger of instability and violence exploding from Gaza's pressure cooker into Egypt proper.

Yet even with troops and riot police rolling out barbed wire and water cannon, restoring the status quo - the border sealed and the Palestinians shut in behind it - will not be easy, especially after Mubarak vowed that he would not stand by while 1.5 million people "starved under Israeli's siege".

Egyptians are extremely conscious of their leadership role in the Arab world - in politics as in films and literature - and are proud of their support for the Palestinians down the decades, from the disastrous war of 1948 through to Nasser's 1967 defeat and Anwar Sadat's triumphant Yom Kippur crossing of the Suez Canal in 1973."

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