The clashes at Rafiah between Hamas-controlled mobs and Egyptian security forces will lead to a larger conflict between the two entities, Middle East expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar estimated in an interview for Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news magazine. “Hamas and the Egyptians are on a collision course and it is only a matter of time until it happens,” he said.
The clashes between Egypt and the Hamas terrorists are representative of a larger struggle, he said, between two schools of thought that are fighting each other for leadership of the Arab world. “On the one hand there is Egypt, a sovereign secular country, and on the other hand there is the new state in Gaza, led by an organization that wants to place the world under the kingdom of Allah,” Dr. Kedar explained.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has reached the moment of truth, Dr. Kedar said. “The Egyptians refuse to let Hamas continue to dig tunnels under their noses,” he said. “The cooperation with Iran threatens Egypt. The Egyptians have already exposed Hamas cells that operated in the country and Mubarak is afraid of losing power.”
The Egyptian strongman faces a true dilemma, the expert from Bar Ilan University said. “On the one hand he needs to rid Egypt of the hornets' nest of all those Al Qaeda people operating under his nose, but on the other hand if his hand gets too heavy on Hamas in Gaza he exposes himself to a conflict with the Muslim Brotherhood. He has no good option today.”