The current ambiguous situation is reflecting the instable power situation in Cairo itself. The vast majority of the Egyptian people is in support of the Palestinians and want to end Egypt’s subservient role towards Israel and the US. The military regime emerging from the old systems on one side wants to keep things as much as they used to be but, on the other side needs also to respond the popular demands. Hence the half-hearted announcement of the military rulers to stop being a pillar of the creeping genocide on Gaza is already an important success of the popular revolt. Even this simple and minor promise has shaken the entire imperialist set-up of the region.
Also the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, which had been blocked by the West, Israel and Egypt, became possible due to the change in Cairo. Israel angrily reacted to their impotence to influence the course of events dismantling the isolation of the Palestinian resistance.
The Egyptian popular movement, however, asks for nothing less than the complete end to the blockade of Gaza. Not only passengers must be allowed to cross the borders freely but also goods. Gaza should not be reduced to a receiver of donations and charities. Normal commercial operations must resume providing the possibilities for the Palestinians to take care for themselves.
Any further step by the military junta for Gaza will be a result of the popular pressure. Every millimetre advance must be snatched from the generals still in cahoots with the US. Therefore the current multi-fold mobilisations are of great importance.
The Egyptian association “We are all resistance” has called for the demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo for Friday May 13. While under Mubarak this was forbidden, since his fall there is a kind of permanent rally asking for the end of the diplomatic and political ties with the Zionist colonial state.
What especially has heated the public opinion is the natural gas supplied to Israel for a price less than 20% of the market level. At the same time rising fuel prices are strangling the impoverished Egyptian people and the government is using more that 5% of the GDP on fuel subsidies. Nevertheless the government refuses to publish the full text of the gas contact. Since the end of Mubarak the gas pipe line has been blown up three times so far and not by Salafi people. The popular demand is to cancel the whole contract.
The Anti-imperialist Camp fully supports the mobilisation to end the siege on Gaza for which Mubarak’s dictatorship was a central pillar. From the European side we are actively supporting the Gaza flotilla set to depart by the end of June to show that the European system opposition is in support of the Palestinian resistance.
The historic step ahead for the Egyptian popular movement is to end the entire Camp David regime. If the leading country of the Arab world once again embarks on the path of the resistance it would be a tremendous push for all the resistance movements first of all the Palestinian one. We always said:
The liberation of Jerusalem passes by Cairo.
