Gaza

After Hamas took over Gaza last summer (2007) Israel and Egypt had closed off the borders. Within the past few days, two breaches have been made in the wall separating Gaza from Egypt. The people of Gaza immediately began flowing out to make purchases of materials they cannot get within Gaza. Egyptian efforts to contain this have failed so far. This is demonstrating the humanitarian crisis that has been taking place within Gaza. This is also an indicator of the civil war that is taking place within the Muslim world. Israel can be expected to not cooperate in working with Hamas. Egypt is indicating that they are not very sympathetic either. Egypt does not want Hamas to be running things. Hamas is a group that follows many ‘authentic’ Islamic laws and beliefs. Egypt is afraid of people who support Hamas getting loose within the Egyptian population. Although this is an oversimplification, it does demonstrate the idea that ideology like Hamas is triggering much of the violence within the Muslim world. The popularity of such groups throughout the Muslim world indicates that this problem is widespread.