Haniyeh crosses into Gaza, leaves millions of dollars in Egypt

[oberliner]

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh crossed from Egypt into the Gaza Strip on Thursday night, a member of his delegation said, leaving behind the $35 million he received from his tour of Muslim states.

Israel, which triggered the closure of the border to prevent Haniyeh's passage with the money, agreed Thursday evening to allow him to cross if left the money in Egypt.

Hamas sources said the money had stayed in Egypt with two delegation officials who would sort out what to do with it. Israel Radio said that the money would be transferred Friday to the bank account of the Arab League in Cairo.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/801252.html

[Tom Joad]

1. This story should put to rest the fiction that Gaza is free of Israeli control.

Gaza is under military occupation, to suggest otherwise is just an effort to whitewash the facts.

[breakaleg]

2. Let's hope.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scurrilous]

4. Israel to tighten enforcement of int'l boycott of PA

<snip>

"Israel has vowed to tighten enforcement of the internatioanl boycott of the Palestinian Authority after Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh yesterday tried to enter the Gaza Strip with suitcases of cash. In a compromise solution, Haniyeh was allowed to enter through the Rafah crossing last night following a delay of more than seven hours. However, Haniyeh was forced to leave behind more than $30 million in cash contributions to Hamas from Iran and other Arab states he visited on a tour of friendly countries.

Security sources in Israel said that Hamas officials who will attempt in the future to bypass the economic embargo on the Palestinian Authority will also not be allowed to cross back into the Gaza Strip."

<snip>

"The Defense Ministry in Israel learned from American sources yesterday that Haniyeh intended to cross into the Gaza Strip with large sums of cash. Defense Minister Amir Peretz decided to order the Rafah crossing closed to prevent Haniyeh's entry into the PA."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/801423.html

[oberliner]

5. internatioanl ?

Weird to see such a blatant spelling error on that site.

[bemildred]

6. The whole story about crossing with cash is weird.

$35,000,000 is a lot of cash to lug around. I like to know the currencies and denominations that he is "carrying", and how he expects to use in in Gaza. It just seems like the story requires more explanation.

[Tom Joad]

7. Does it have something to do with tight banking sanctions enforced against

Palestine? Banks will not allow many normal transactions in and out of Palestine. So this may be the only way to get vital aid to the people.
End the sanctions against a people under occupation.

[bemildred]

8. That's not it.

What do you do with cash in Gaza? What can you buy in Gaza with Iranian money? That seems unclear to me. Do Gazans normally buy food with persian money? What is he going to do with $35,000,000 in cash denominated in various currencies? I sure would not know what to do with that much cash here. I think it needs some explaining, that he is lugging cash around like that. For what? Why NOT put it in an account in Egypt, say, since the situation in Gaza is so messed up?

[Violet_Crumble]

9. I guess there must be some way of converting it to useful currency...

Also, I found it interesting that Israel does have control of the Egypt/Gaza border despite many heated claims to the contrary :)

[UndertheOcean]

10. One wonders were are those who claimed to the contrary now ...

makes one think that they care not about truth , just about infusing confusion and propaganda to benefit a PR campaign by the regime they represent.

[bemildred]

11. I think it's him (Haniyeh) they wanted to keep out.

Not so much the money. I think his tour of Iran pissed some people off, and his presence threatens Abbas at this point. But the bullshit about "carrying cash" needs explaining and there is no explanation forthcoming.

[pelsar]

12. israel is "back"---gotta stay with the time line

it was part of the "cease fire agreement" as far as i can tell.

once hamas kidnapped the soldier israel reinvaded gaza...and withdrew with Egyptians and the Intl agreement that israel will have a say in what goes through rafah as per the original agreement. (i dont know if the euros are still there, given the last attack by hamas)

no israeli is there, but the cameras watch over.

currency is currency...its still used to buy and sell. For example, The tunnlers buy weapons etc from the Bedouin smugglers in Egypt...they buy it using cash.

its used to buy food, clothes etc.