Egypt lifted a 4-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, greatly easing travel restrictions on the 1.5 million residents of the Palestinian territory in a move that bolstered the Hamas government while dealing a setback to Israel's attempts to isolate the militant group.
Several observations are in order.
One, I guess we now know that it wasn't an Israeli blockade only, since it required Egypt to control their part of the border, too.
Two, there is no need for "humanitarian" groups to run the Israeli blockade at sea.
Three, powerful Gazans and some Egyptians who benefited from the smuggling tunnels will be upset.
Four, more weapons will make their way into Gaza to be used against Israel.
Five, more reinforced concrete buildings will appear in strategic locations suitable for fortresses, supply depots, and command bunkers.
Six, Gazans material well-being probably won't improve very much since the "blockade" was pretty tailored to halting material suitable for making war on Israel.
Seven, weapons in the pipeline to Gaza will leak, and there will be anti-Egypt attacks in Sinai and in Egypt west of the canal, too.
Eight, relations with Iran will take hits as Iran's role in these weapons supplies are revealed.
Nine, in time, Egypt will close the border again.
Ten, "human rights" activists will silently rejoice that they can again blame Israel for blockading poor, starving Palestinaians.
