Israel wants to pass responsibility for Gaza to Egypt

Reuters:

Israel wants to cut its links with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after militants blasted open the territory's border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade, Israel's deputy defence minister said on Thursday.

Israel, which occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, pulled troops and settlers out in 2005 but still controls its northern and eastern borders, airspace and coastal waters, and has imposed a blockade it says is meant to counter militant rocket fire.

Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said Israel wanted to wash its hands of Gaza altogether by handing over the supply of electricity, water and medicine to others. An Israeli security official said Egypt should take over responsibility.

"We need to understand that when Gaza is open to the other side we lose responsibility for it. So we want to disconnect from it," Vilnai said.

Hundreds of Gazans on Thursday streamed past the flattened border wall into Egypt on foot or donkeys to stock up on goods in short supply, including sheep, motorcycles and medicine.

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Egypt declined to comment on the proposal. When asked what Cairo planned to do about the border, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the situation was "temporary" and that "every option is under consideration".

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It is unlikely that Egypt would have much interest in Gaza either. With the Hamas death cult in charge and the rocket attacks on Israel, Gaza will be a problem for anyone who acts responsibly. Egypt can probably get a way with more brutality than Israel and might be able to subjugate the death cult, but there is a real question of whether they would want to.

It is a interesting piece of jujitsu on the part of the Israelis to use the occasion to divest themselves of responsibility for the mess the Palestinians have made of Gaza.