Muslim freedom in action

Under its former ruler Hosni Mubarak, Egypt kept its border with Gaza closed, preventing Hamas jihad terrorists from traveling freely to and fro and building up Gaza as a base from which to attack Egypt or Israel. Then, in January and February 2011, U.S. liberals and neoconservatives suddenly began calling Mubarak a “dictator,” a term they had never used for him before, and insisting that his regime be toppled in order to bring about freedom and democracy. The liberals and neoconservatives got their wish, or rather they got the first half of their wish. They helped topple Mubarak’s regime—and now Egypt has a pro-Hamas government which, the AP reports today, has permanently opened the Egypt/Gaza border. The mission of Hamas, in addition to destroying Israel, is to overthrow all human government, democratic or otherwise, and replace it by Allah-cracy.

Yet the neocons and liberals are still on fire about the advent of Muslim “democracy,” and even the once tough-minded Silvio Berlusconi of Italy has caught the bug.

With the liberals, this is no surprise, since their manifest desire is to empower our enemies. But how explain the neocons?

The neocon delusion that Muslim democracy, i.e., elections, would lead to Muslim liberal democracy was decisively discredited years ago, when the Palestinians elected Hamas and the Lebanese elected Hezbollah. Yet the delusion continues.

How do people manage to maintain beliefs patently at odds with reality? (Disclosure: the Darwinists say the same about me.)

Neoconservatism is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.

Here is the AP article:

Egypt Permanently Opens Gaza Border Crossing

Rafah— After a four-year blockade, Egypt on Saturday permanently opened the Gaza Strip’s main gateway to the outside world, bringing long-awaited relief to the territory’s Palestinian population and a significant achievement for the area’s ruling Hamas militant group.

The reopening of the Rafah border crossing eases an Egyptian blockade of Gaza that has prevented the vast majority of the densely populated area’s 1.5 million people from being able to travel abroad. The closure, along with an Israeli blockade of its borders with Gaza, has fueled an economic crisis in the territory.

But Saturday’s move also raises Israeli fears that militants will be able to move freely in and out of Gaza.

Highlighting those fears, the Israeli army said militants from inside Gaza fired a mortar shell into southern Israel overnight. There were no injuries, and Israel did not respond.

Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007. The closure, which also included tight Israeli restrictions at its cargo crossings with Gaza and a naval blockade, was meant to weaken Hamas, an Islamic militant group that opposes peace with Israel.

But since the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February, Egypt’s new leadership has vowed to ease the blockade and improve relations with the Palestinians.

The Rafah border terminal has functioned at limited capacity for months. Travel has been restricted to certain classes of people, such as students, businessmen or medical patients. And the crossing was often subject to closures. Travel through

Israel’s passenger crossing with Gaza is extremely rare.

Under the new system, most restrictions are being lifted, and a much larger number of Palestinians are expected to be able to cross each day, easing a backlog that can force people to wait for months.

Some 400 people had gathered at Rafah early Saturday as the first bus load of passengers crossed the border. Two Egyptian officers stood guard next to a large Egyptian flag atop the border gate as the vehicle passed through.

Among the first passengers to cross was Ward Labaa, a 27-year-old woman who was leaving Gaza for the first time in her life to seek medical care for a stomach ailment at a Cairo hospital.

More buses crossed Rafah later, dragging blue carts attached to the rear, with luggage piled high.

Salama Baraka, the chief Palestinian officer at the Gaza side of the Rafah terminal, said travel has been limited to about 300 passengers a day.

He said it was unclear how many people would pass through on Saturday, but that officials hoped to get about three days’ worth of people, or roughly 900, across.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 28, 2011 02:04 PM | Send