Cairo is daunted from freezing Hamas smuggling through Sinai by fear of combined Hamas-al Qaeda terror in Egyptian towns

This was how Cairo explained to Washington its failure to act on Israel’s bitter complaints against the heavy traffic of arms, explosives, missiles and fighters crossing Sinai into Gaza on behalf of Hamas, Jihad and al Qaeda.US officials checking on Israel’s complaints found Cairo’s answer extremely disquieting.In the first place, Egypt was leaving Hamas in charge of Gaza's borders, recanting on responsibility for border security with Gaza, which it assumed under accords brokered in 2005 by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Furthermore, Cairo was admitting for the first time that cooperation between Hamas and the Egyptian al Qaeda cells planted in the Gaza Strip and Sinai was close enough to afford Hamas access to Egyptian cities for hitting back at restraints on its smuggling activities. According to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, Egyptian security services are afraid of attacks in Cairo and Alexandria, as well as the Suez Canal cities of Port Said and Ismailia, where al Qaeda maintains broad networks.Our military sources note Egypt’s security chiefs have a far healthier respect for Hamas’ true strength and perniciousness than the Israeli government. Rather than confront the Palestinian Islamists, Cairo has lifted its military siege on the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule since June and opted out of the US-Israeli-European anti-Hamas boycott.Israeli military officers serving in the region term the new situation “a security catastrophe” and warn that the Negev population and the army will eventually pay a heavy price for today’s negligence.The Olmert government has so far opted for diplomatic pressure on Cairo through Washington. Egypt has now shut that door.In the last two weeks, the volume of smuggled materiel entering Gaza has increased dramatically, comprising thousands of guns, hundreds of different types of missiles and hundreds of tons of explosives. Egypt let 85 Hamas fighters return to Gaza after training in Iran.The end of the Eid festival and Ramadan this week is expected to release a fresh outburst of violence on two fronts. Some of the incoming hardware may be funneled to the West Bank for suicide attacks in Israel and operations to overthrow Mahmoud Abbas’ government and prime minister Salam Fayyed in time to sabotage the international peace conference US Secretary Rice is trying to set up next month.
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4676

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