How the Turmoil in Egypt Is Causing Greater Suffering in Gaza

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"Ramadan is for worshipping, but in Gaza thousands are waiting in gas stations to fill their taxis, trucks and tuck-tucks [three-wheel motorcycles]," wrote journalist Mohammed Omer on Facebook. "This is also a form of worship under unbearable sun."

Egypt has not only restricted land access, but sea access as well. On July 8, the Egyptian navy for the first time reportedly opened fire at a Gazan fishing boat, warning it away from Egyptian waters. Until then, it was Israel alone that prevented Palestinians in Gaza from venturing far enough out to get a catch decent enough to make a living.

Palestinians accused of fomenting rebellion

What is the rationale for this crackdown on Gaza? Although no credible evidence has been revealed, Egyptian media are rife with rumours accusing Hamas of sending in operatives to support the deposed Muslim Brotherhood government - including several  armed attacks on Egyptian soldiers and checkpoints in the Sinai. On July 13,  Daily News Egypt reported that after armed assailants attacked security checkpoints in the Northern Sinai, three Palestinian suspects were apprehended, who " provided the police with important information during interrogation". Given the track record of Egyptian security, that statement conjures up images of torture. In response, the publication said, " a warplane dropped flyers over the residents of Al-Arish (a small seaside town) reading: 'To the honourable people of Sinai, this is your armed forces. Be assured… we are here to protect you, so please do not allow any person who does not belong to this pure land to attack us.'"

The people who are accused of not "belonging to this pure land," are - as usual - the Palestinians, whose families were forced from their ancestral lands to become refugees no one seems to want.

Egyptian pubic opinion has followed a predictable trajectory, shaped in large part by rhetoric such as the words of Sameh Seif Elyazal, a former Egyptian general. On the Al-Tahrir channel, Elyazal  reportedly claimed that "Egyptian law will punish, with sentences that could reach 25 years in jail, the Palestinians and Syrians and Iraqis who have made calls for incitement to violence at the demonstrations at Rabaa Al-Adawiya (the site of the army's recent shooting of as many as 51 pro-Morsi demonstrators) in return for money."

The general's allegations echoed a government prosecutor's  assertion that "elements from the Muslim Brotherhood" were recruiting Palestinians and Syrians to attack pro-army demonstrators. The prosecutor also accused a Palestinian leader of handing out shotguns and cash payments to fellow Palestinians in Cairo, dispatching them to pro-Morsi demonstrations to attack opponents. These claim, however, were not independently verifiable.

In some opinion polls , Egyptians are now saying Hamas - and by extension, Palestinians - "have transformed from being a 'thorn in Israel's side' into being one in Egypt's side".

The tragic irony in this case is that although they are accused of fomenting unrest in support of the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinians in Gaza  didn't fare significantly better under the Mohammed Morsi administration than they did under Hosni Mubarak. Although clearly more sympathetic, Morsi was under great pressure from the United States and others to maintain Egypt's treaty with Israel and thus stability in the region.  It is clear that even under Morsi, the  military maintained its long-standing control of the balance of power .

For example, in May (under Morsi's watch), Egyptian police - enraged by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by unidentified militants - closed Rafah crossing for five days in response, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travellers on both sides. The closure  caused the death of Ghazza al-Khawaldi from Khan Younis , who needed medical treatment abroad that she couldn't get in Gaza. Weeks later, the Egyptians' launched the tunnel destruction campaign.