Supporting Independent Sovereignity of the State of Egypt

A statement from the independent people of Egypt

We, the undersigned, representing the greater masses of Egyptian citizens unaffiliated to any political or religious group, hereby declare our support of the policies of the Egyptian government in so far as pertains to the construction of the steel barrier separating Egyptian soil from the occupied province of Gaza. We understand that the decisions of our government are not intended to isolate or further oppress the people of Gaza, but rather to force an agreement between the different Palestinian factions (that which has been previously refused by the radical Islamic movement Hamas) for the ultimate purpose of a just and everlasting peace between the unified Palestinian people and the state of Israel.

We furthermore strenuously condemn any intrusion into internal Egyptian affairs from any other nation, specially noting that said nations were conspicuously silent when Hamas broke through the Egyptian border on January 23rd 2008 and allowed 500,000 Palestinians to pour into the Sinai Peninsula in clear violation of Egyptian sovereignty. Some of these intruders even raised the Palestinian flag over an Egyptian city! Explosives smuggled in during that incident were found and confiscated by Egyptian authorities. Such actions of terror are fueled by Islamic radicalism and supported by Iran's ambitions in the area.

We also point out that it is hardly a coincidence that Hamas would cold-bloodedly murder 22 year old private Ahmed Shaaban of the Egyptian border patrol this last January 6th and in the same day, some Egyptian Christian civilians are gunned down in the city of Naga Hamady, two of which were children, on the eve of the celebration of the Eastern Orthodox Christmas. We condemn these attacks on Egyptian citizens, Muslims or Christians, as well as on our sovereignty as a nation. We recognize that certain powers, primarily Iran, have a hidden agenda in the area and Egypt appears to them as a strong opposition.

The criticism towards Egypt's policies concerning the border crossing with Gaza is perplexing to us for a variety of reasons, chief among them is the fact that there exists six border crossings for Gaza bordering Egypt and Israel. We do not understand the critics' insistence on forcing only, the opening of the Rafah crossing of Egypt, rather than directing their attention to other Crossings bordering the occuping force of Israel!

Finally, we declare our belief that the international community of free nations should provide support to Egypt in these issues. Said community has repeatedly ignored the plight of the Palestinian people under the Israeli occupation since June 5th 1967. We, as one of the only two Arab countries, in official peace with Israel, refuse to pay the price. The radical, religion-exploiting, forces behind these incidents are collectively against the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and are the main obstacle in Egypt's attempts to building a free and democratic society potentially leading the entire Middle East in a modern renaissance.