Apr 22, 2024. Posted by Periscope - Hellas
Cairo.
Egypt’s head of the State Information Service [SIS] Diaa Rashwan said in a
Monday statement that all of these are false allegations including the claims
about any tunnels between both sides of the border.
Rashwan mentioned several points in his statement, saying that it clears
and clarifies all of the recent Israeli allegations.
Rashwan explained that: ‘All countries of the world know well the extent of
the efforts made by Egypt in the last 10 years, to achieve security and
stability in Sinai and enhance security on the border between Egyptian Rafah
and the Gaza Strip, as Egypt itself had suffered greatly from these tunnels
during the fierce confrontation with terrorist groups in Sinai after the
overthrow of the Brotherhood regime in June 2013 and until 2020, it represented
a means for smuggling fighters and weapons to Sinai to carry out terrorist
operations that claimed the lives of more than 3,000 martyrs from the army,
police, and civilians, and more than 13,000 injured.’
He added: ‘This situation prompted the Egyptian administration to take
broader steps to eliminate these tunnels once and for all. A 5-kilometre-long
buffer zone was created from the Egyptian city of Rafah to the border with
Gaza, and more than 1,500 tunnels were destroyed.
Egypt also strengthened the border wall with the sector extending to 14
kilometers, by strengthening it with a concrete wall 6 meters long above the
ground and 6 meters below the ground, so that there are three barriers between
Sinai and Palestinian Rafah, with which any smuggling operation is impossible,
neither above ground nor underground. Egypt has full sovereignty over its land,
and has complete control over its entire northeastern borders, whether with the
Gaza Strip or with Israel.’
Thirdly, Rashwan said that: ‘It is striking and surprising that Israel
speaks in this unreliable way about allegations of arms smuggling from Egypt to
Gaza, As the Israeli Army controls the Gaza Strip and possesses the most modern
and accurate means of reconnaissance and monitoring, and its forces,
settlements and naval forces surround the small Gaza Strip from three sides.
Israel only sends accusations against Egypt without any Evidences.’
“Any claim that smuggling operations are carried out via trucks carrying
aid and goods to Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing is an
empty and ridiculous statement, because any truck entering the Gaza Strip from
this crossing must first pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is run
by the authorities.
The Israeli army inspects all trucks entering the Strip. Also, the
recipients of the humanitarian aid are the Palestinian Red Crescent and United
Nations relief organizations such as UNRWA, which adds further evidence of the
falsehood of the Israeli allegations.” Rashwan stated.
He noted that “the true purpose of Israel’s claims is to justify its
continuation of the process of collective punishment, killing and starving more
than 2 million Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip, which has practiced for 17
years.”
Rashwan confirmed that ‘Israel's continued marketing of ‘these lies’ is
only an attempt to create legitimacy for its attempt to occupy the Philadelphia
Corridor or the Salah al-Din Corridor, in the Gaza Strip along the border with
Egypt, in violation of the security agreements and protocols signed between it
and Egypt.
“Here, it must be strictly emphasized that any Israeli move in this
direction will lead to a serious and serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli
relations.” He said, adding that “In addition to being a country that respects
its international obligations, Egypt is able to defend its interests and
sovereignty over its land and borders, and will not mortgage them in the hands
of a group of extremist Israeli leaders who seek to drag the region into a
state of conflict and instability.”
Rashwan also “called on the Israeli government to conduct serious
investigations within its army, state agencies, and sectors of society, to
search for those truly involved in smuggling weapons to the Gaza Strip among
them, for the purpose of profit.”
He explained that “many of the weapons currently inside the Gaza Strip are
the result of smuggling from within Israel, for example M16 rifles and types of
RPGs, as well as dual-use materials in the military manufacturing of the
military wings in the Gaza Strip.”
Rashwan also wondered: “can Israeli officials, who are spreading lies
against Egypt, explain the source of the large quantities of weapons,
ammunition and explosives spread in various areas of the West Bank, according
to their official statements? especially in light of the full control of the
occupation army over it, and that it does not have any kind of border with
Egypt?”
He added that: “all information shows that most of the heavy weapons
smuggling operations into the Gaza Strip take place across the Mediterranean
Sea, where its shores with Gaza are completely controlled by the Israeli naval
and air forces, which indicates the same type of involvement in Israel, from
its army, its state agencies, and sectors of society, in weapons smuggling to
the Gaza Strip for the purpose of profit.”
Rashwan also implied to the seizure of many weapons, missile and explosives
manufacturing workshops inside the tunnels in Gaza, which means that there is a
high probability that it is a large part of Hamas’ armament and the Palestinian
factions, manufacture locally and not through smuggling.
The statement said that “the arbitrary policies of successive Israeli
governments have eliminated any prospects for a peaceful solution to the
Palestinian issue and encouraged the secession of the Gaza Strip under the
leadership of Hamas from the Palestinian Authority.”
Rashwan stressed that the full support and solidarity of the Egyptian
people with the Palestinian cause is “certain and realistic without the
slightest doubt’, and it comes in line with Egypt’s official stance on
supporting the rights of the Palestinian people in their independent state with
East Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of June 4, 1967. But this popular
and official solidarity and support for the Palestinian cause, does not
conflict with securing our borders and preventing smuggling to and from it.”
SIS head stressed that without any doubt, “such false allegations do not
serve the positive Egyptian efforts made to resolve the crisis in Gaza, which
has affected the entire region and made it ripe for expanding the circle of
conflict, something that President Abdel Fattah al Sisi has warned against
repeatedly.”
At the End of the statement Rashwan affirmed that such allegations dose not
“serve the peace treaty that Egypt highly respects”.
He demanded the Israeli side to show its respect for “the peace treaty” and
stop making statements that would strain bilateral relations in light of the
current inflammatory conditions.
Egypt also called on ‘anyone who talk about its inability to protect its
borders to stop making these allegations’, in light of the fact that Egypt has
a strong army, fully capable of protecting its borders with all efficiency and
discipline.
The statement also stressed that Egypt will continue its ‘positive and key
role’ in order to solve all of the region’s problems, “and that none of these
false allegations will succeed in dissuading Egypt from carrying out its
internal, regional and international responsibilities.”
Egypt Today
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