HAMAS ON THE EGYPTIAN BORDER: Israel is not the only concerned with having the Iranian satellite Hamas on its border. The Big Pharoah writes:

It seems that we’re going to have new neighbours pretty soon. Hamas is currently on its way to consolidate its power over the Gaza strip. Egypt, at least the government, is watching this with tremendous concern. My advice to the Egyptian government is to deploy thousands upon thousands of army troops on the Gaza borders and beneath. The borders there are pretty small and could be controlled. This will definitely have to be in agreement with Israel.

This will be one of the topics Olmert will be bringing up when he visits the US:

Olmert will also raise the topic of deploying a multi-national force along the Gaza-Egypt border in his meetings with Bush and later with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. An international force would be deployed in order to curb the smuggling of arms from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, and strengthening Hamas.

Israel, however, has not yet formulated a unified stance regarding the deployment of the force, which would be commanded by the Arab League, and the security cabinet will meet on the topic when Olmert returns from the U.S.

Is a force commanded by the Arab League any better an option than an Egyptian force?

Meanwhile, An Unsealed Room writes on a personal note:

Egypt is tightening its borders, afraid of a flood of refugees from Gaza. The blogsophere's favorite gal in Gaza, Laila, has just gotten out. She seemed quite happy when Hamas won the election. I wonder what she's thinking now -- besides that everything is Israel's fault, she always thinks that.

Anyway, I'm glad she got her son out of there.

What a mess--which is just what Iran wants.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Egypt and Gaza.