Gaza Opening a Can of Worms for Egypt

TEL AVIV - Many hailed Egypt's opening the Rafah crossing into Gaza on Saturday as a historic move. Such it may well be, but its real significance is not that it strengthened Hamas or that it delivered a slap in the face to Israeli and American policies.

There is some reason to believe that its timing was chosen to express Egypt's dissatisfaction with the glamorous spectacle, starring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States President Barack Obama, which took place a week or so ago. [1] But this is little more than a petty auxiliary intrigue. The real question, as I have argued several times previously, is whether Egypt is prepared to take responsibility for the Gaza Strip, and whether Israel has any impetus to force it to do so.