VIDEO - Considerable amounts of high quality weaponry were smuggled into Gaza through the breached border with Egypt along the Philadelphi rout, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin stated during a cabinet security briefing Sunday.
Disking further stated that “its is difficult to determine the precise amounts, but a great deal of high quality weaponry, including long range rockets, antitank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles, was smuggled into Gaza, and these are weapons that usually do not find their way into the Strip.”
Predicting that the border with Egypt might likely remain breached for quite a while, Diskin warned that “all activities that previously took place underground can now take place far more easily above ground.”
In response, Defense Minister Ehud Barak recommended re-sealing the border fence with Egypt at two points: Eilat and the Nitzana Border Crossing. He also noted that Israel has three main objectives vis-a-vie Gaza: Re-sealing the border breach; halting the Qassam rocket attacks on Israel; and in the long term, disengaging from the Gaza Strip completely.
Regarding the border fence with Egypt, the defense minister noted that “rebuilding the fence is an absolute necessity and we must start work on said fence immediately. We need this fence in order to contend with terror attacks, smuggling and crime.”
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addedthat “Israel has a problem in Gaza, which did not come to be last week or the week before, not will it have simple, immediate solutions. We are examining all of our options and will respond appropriately. I agree that we need a border fence and are working to make that happen.”
Echoing Olmert’s statements, Vice Premier Haim Ramon noted that “we need a fence along the Gaza-Egypt border; it is a simple and cost-effective solution to many problems. We also need to disengage completely from the Gaza strip.”
More substantial border fence needed
Israel’s current border with Egypt stretches from Eilat to Kerem Shalom for some 354 miles, and is nearly completely breached along most of its length. There is a low fence which Israel placed along the border after the peace treaty with Egypt, and a barbed wire fence that the Egyptians have erected, but the more mountainous terrain along the border cannot be fenced in.
Security personnel and border communities have been calling for the construction of a more substantial fence for years, but it appears that the defense minister has only now acquiesced due to mounting concerns regarding terrorist infiltration into Israel following the border breach.
Egyptian security personnel have re-sealed the Rafah Crossing, breached by Palestinians last week, and now only the Philadelphi route remains open for entry into Egyptian territory. A Hamas delegationreturned to Israel this weekend following deliberations with Egypt regarding the border breach.