In Times of Crisis, Build a Fence

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Hamas on Monday to "watch their step, and not to cry crocodile tears if they force Israel to take action". This prelude to the cycle of violence is usually evaded or censored out by Israel's critics, reversing cause and effect.

Israeli security experts have been cited saying Hamas is slackening in the prevention of home-made rockets being fired from Gaza, which triggered operation Cast Lead a year ago. Palestinian politics is a snake pit. The ceaseless insurgencies against Israel serve the purpose of uniting Palestinians behind groups as Fattah and Hamas, reason why efforts to bring peace in the area have so far eluded us. Security experts say dissent against Hamas is growing in Gaza: the next intifada has already been predicted.

- Photos: abundance on Gaza's markets - Hat Tip: Atlas Shrugs -

But Barak seemed to blame a genuine ineptness on the part of Gaza's rulers, saying "the deterrence achieved during Operation Cast Lead still exists, and it is strong. The fire in recent days stems from Hamas' inability to rein in Jihad bodies and independent groups". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile promised a "powerful response".Yesterday an Israeli air strike killed three militants.

The battles come in the midst of Israel unfolding plans to close off the southern border with Egypt, erecting an almost half a million dollar fence along two segments in an effort to stem the infiltration of migrant workers and terrorists. Barak remarked with understatement that "good fences make good neighbors."

Last week one Egyptian police officer, and at least a dozen Palestinians were wounded in a battle along the Egypt-Gaza border. The Egyptians opened fire on Palestinians who were pelting them with rocks on the orders of Gaza's Hamas rulers to protest the delay of the British based Viva Palestine "aid convoy" at the Egyptian port of El-Arish. They soon lost control over the situation.

More than 500 international activists accompanied the convoy, bringing tons of supplies and vehicles. It consisted of British, American, Jordanian and Turkish activists and politicians, including the infamous George Gallaway.

Scuffles at the port broke out late Tuesday when authorities told the organizers that out of the nearly 200 vehicles, some 59 could not enter Gaza through Egypt, but must go through Israeli terminals. More than 50 activists and over a dozen members of the security forces were injured. The "peace activists" briefly seized a police officer and four of his men. They were later released, some with broken ribs.

"We are activists. We condemn the Israeli siege to start with. We will only enter through an Egyptian-Palestinian crossing," said Wael al-Sakka, a Jordanian activist. Alice Howard, a spokeswoman for the group, said organizers were negotiating with an Egyptian security official, who said he would come back with answers. But instead, 2,000 riot police returned, spraying the activists with water cannons, and hurling rocks.

True in style Al-Sakka was blaming the police, who are "too high-strung". Egypt has come under fire from Arab and Muslim groups for cooperating with Israel in its blockade of Gaza. The blockade was imposed after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in a bloody coup against Fatah.

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