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MIDEAST: Big Powers Moving In on Gaza
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO, Apr 3, 2009 (IPS) - Nine NATO member states agreed last month to utilise naval, intelligence and
diplomatic resources to combat the alleged flow of arms into the Gaza Strip.
Some Egyptian commentators see the move as a surreptitious means of
cementing foreign control over the region.
"These new protocols aren't really about halting arms smuggling," Tarek
Fahmi, political science professor at Cairo University and head of the Israel
desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS.
"Rather, they aim to establish foreign control over the region's strategic
border crossings and maritime ports."
On Mar. 13, a major conference was held in London aimed at "coordinating
efforts" to stop alleged arms smuggling - by land or sea - into the Gaza
Strip, governed by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas. Participants at the
conference included high-level representatives from nine member states of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), including the U.S., Britain,
Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Norway.
At the close of the event, participants signed an agreement "to develop an
effective framework for international cooperation, supplementary to
measures taken by regional states, to prevent and interdict the illicit flow of
arms, ammunition and weapons components to Gaza."
According to a final statement, participant governments hope to accomplish
these objectives with the use of a series of measures, including "maritime
interception, information sharing and diplomatic pressure." The international
community "has a responsibility to support prevention and interdiction
efforts," the statement reads, noting that such efforts may involve
"diplomatic, military, intelligence and law enforcement components."
The London conference follows an earlier meeting devoted to the same issue
held in Denmark in early February. A third, follow-up meeting is expected to
be held in Canada in April to "work out details" of the pact, according to
diplomats close to the talks.
Although Egypt reportedly received an invitation to attend the London
gathering, it disdained to send a delegate. Palestinian representation, too -
from either Hamas or the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority - was
conspicuously absent. Israeli officials, meanwhile, reportedly attended the
meeting as "observers".
Shortly afterwards, Mark Regev, spokesman for outgoing Israeli PM Ehud
Olmert, lauded the agreement. "The principle is clear - the international
community will act to prevent the transfer of weapons," he was quoted as
saying.
But Egyptian analysts say the agreement represents a furtive attempt to
"internationalise" the longstanding siege of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Since early 2006 - when Hamas won an outright majority in Palestinian
legislative elections - Israel and Egypt have kept their borders with the Gaza
Strip tightly sealed to passengers and goods, despite an increasingly
desperate need for basic supplies among the territory's 1.5 million
inhabitants. The humanitarian situation has deteriorated further since Israel's
three-week-long onslaught against the strip two months ago, in which more
than 1,400 Palestinians were killed and vast swathes of infrastructure
destroyed.
"These anti-smuggling conferences are a new and underhanded way of
targeting the Palestinian resistance," Gamal Mazloum, expert in military
affairs and retired Egyptian army general, told IPS. "While the U.S. provides
Israel with advanced military hardware free of charge, it wants to completely
deprive the Palestinians of any weapons at all with which to defend
themselves."
The Denmark and London conferences come on the heels of an earlier U.S.-
Israel security pact, signed in mid-January only days before the departure of
then U.S. president George W. Bush.
Like the recent anti-smuggling conferences, the agreement outlined general
procedures aimed at stopping alleged weapons smuggling into the Gaza
Strip. The document also commits Washington to "accelerate its efforts to
provide logistical and technical assistance and to train and equip regional
security forces in counter-smuggling tactics."
Egypt, however, which shares a 14-kilometre border with the embattled
territory, rejected the accord as an infringement on its national sovereignty.
"When it comes to Egyptian land, we are not bound by anything except the
safety and national security of the Egyptian people and Egypt's ability to
protect its borders," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit told reporters at
the time.
Independent Egyptian commentators also harshly criticised the U.S.-Israeli
agreement.
"Even though Egypt shares a border with Gaza, it was not a party to this
security pact," said Fahmi. "What's more, a close reading of the document
shows it is not in Egypt's interests and could even end up providing Israel
with access to intelligence on Washington's Arab allies.
"Similarly, Egypt wasn't involved in the recent anti-smuggling conferences in
Europe, which were convened - in the absence of any Arab participation -
with the express purpose of establishing foreign control over the region's
strategic border crossings and maritime ports," added Fahmi.
Mazloum agreed that the international pact signed recently in London was
less about fighting arms smuggling and more about the realisation of geo-
strategic objectives.
"Foreign submarines and destroyers have been covertly plying the waters of
the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal for a long time," said
Mazloum. "With this new protocol, though, these western states want to
formalise this presence."
According to diplomats close to the talks, only "non-coercive" methods will
be brought to bear against arms smuggling. Under the terms of the
agreement, for example, maritime vessels suspected of carrying contraband
can only be boarded for inspection with express permission from the vessel's
captain.
Mazloum, however, was not reassured by the ostensibly "non-coercive"
nature of the agreement. "These voluntary, supposedly non-coercive
inspections will no doubt, over time, become compulsory," he said.
"The West, along with Israel, is attempting to establish regional domination
on multiple fronts," said Fahmi. "The plan to redraw the map of the Middle
East - from Sudan and Somalia to Palestine and Iraq - is progressing apace,
and the hopelessly divided Arabs appear unable to do anything about it."
(END)
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