Philadelphi Corridor...Gaza Displacement Schemes Amid Egypt's Emphatic Opposition

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) News report by Islam Abdelfattah
CAIRO, Jan 9 (KUNA) -- Israeli Occupation forces are currently trying to control the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow route between Egypt and Gaza, amid Cairo's vehement rejection of any attempt to force Gazans out of the enclave.
Recent remarks by Israeli occupation's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to control the Gaza Strip have clearly exposed an ongoing attempt to force the population of Gaza to leave their territory.
Netanyahu was quoted as stating that the Philadelphi Corridor "has to be in our hands", unequivocally referring to a scheme to completely isolate the Palestinian territory from the rest of the world.
However, Egypt resolutely responded to such Israeli occupation attempts when President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi addressed the Cairo Peace Summit, which was held in October, by openly rejecting the forced displacement of Gazans.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry also voiced his country's categorical opposition to any statement or measure aiming at spurring Palestinians to leave their territory, calling on Israeli occupation officials to give up such irresponsible and provocative remarks.
Speaking to KUNA on the issue, Dr. Basheer Abelfattah, a researcher at Egypt's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies said recent statements by Israeli occupation officials regarding the Philadelphi Corridor obviously reveal the intentions of Netanyahu's government to go ahead with the displacement scenario.
He underlined that control over this corridor would lead to tightening grip on the Palestinians of Gaza and forcing them to flee to the Egyptian border.
Abdelfattah believed that Netanyahu is only trying hard to declare any gain in his war on Gaza since he could be forced to step down due to failure and corruption.
Netanyahu would not be able to realize his attempt to control the Philadelphi Corridor as this would be considered to be a breach of the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord, and could even put the entire region into jeopardy, the Egyptian scholar pointed out.
For his part, former Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister Ambassador Hussein Hareedi said Israeli occupation officials' statements on the Egyptian-Gaza corridor had uncovered their desire to impose full security control over the whole Palestinian territory.
He affirmed that the Israeli occupation's attempt to deploy forces at the corridor would break security annexes to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, which defines the number of forces to be deployed therein.
The former Egyptian diplomat stressed that the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor directly concerns the Palestinian people and that's why it is up to them alone to decide on security measures in the Gaza Strip.
The Philadelphi Corridor, often referred to as Philadelphia, is a narrow strip of land, long 14 kilometers, located along the border between Egypt and southern Gaza. It is part of the buffer zone between Egypt and the Gaza Strip under the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace accord.
Israeli occupation forces pulled out of the route and handed it over to the Palestinian National Authority in 2005. In the same year, Egypt and Israeli occupation concluded the Philadelphia Accord, whereby Cairo deployed 750 border guards along the route to patrol the border on the Egyptian side as part of efforts to fight terrorism and infiltration, while the Palestinian side remained under the control of the Palestinians. (end)
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