Shortsighted joy

This view of Cairo and its approach to Hamas is "shortsighted," according to Yoram Meital, who heads the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy at Ben-Gurion University in southern Israel.

He argues that Egypt is not just sending a message to Hamas and to the Muslim Brotherhood, but also to Israel.

Traditionally, Egypt has not wanted to deal with the broader question of what to do with the more than one million Palestinians living in Gaza. Building a metal blockade along the frontier is telling Israel that Egyptian territory cannot be used to resettle Palestinians in any final-status talks, Meital said.

The idea of moving some Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula has been mooted by some Israeli decision makers and security experts over the years.

"To those people, this message is basically 'we are putting steel into the ground to signal to you that this is the border and we won't solve your problem with the Palestinians for you'," said Meital.

In his opinion, the Egyptians believe the Palestinian issue must be resolved within the current borders of Israel and the territories it took in the 1967 war.

"There's no reason for Israel to celebrate. Of course the Palestinians are the main victims of this, but if Israel does not want to include 1.5 million Palestinians in its list of enemies then there's no doubt Israel has no reason to be happy about the building of this barrier," said Meital.

Self protection

Israel's former ambassador to Cairo Zvi Mazel offered an alternative commentary to Mubarak's speech and the construction of the barrier. In his opinion, this is all about self defense.

Over the last couple of years Egypt has come to the realization that it is in the direct firing line of Hamas, Iran and the Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah.

Not only is Egypt concerned about what is smuggled into Gaza, it is more fearful of what comes out of the Palestinian coastal enclave and enters the Sinai, said Mazel.

Much of this new policy from Cairo followed the uncovering last year of what Egypt said was a Hezbollah cell operation in its territory. Cairo also realizes that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are in league, Mazel concurred with Meital.

In Mubarak's last two speeches he said very clearly that via Hamas' smuggling tunnels, explosives and terrorists who trained with Hamas found their way into Taba and other places in Sinai where attacks were carried out, said Mazel, adding that Egypt now understands that it cannot do business with Hamas.

There is an argument that much of the motivation behind Egypt's pressure on Hamas and its closing of the smuggling routes is the result of American pressure. Meital admits that is part of the reason, but he said Egypt also sees that it can gain from the new state of affairs.

It sends clear messages to Mubarak's domestic opposition, to Hamas and to Israel. In the case of the latter, it is not yet clear that the message has been understood or internalized in Israel, Meital believed.

The decision makers in Israel are of the opinion that right now the world needs to squeeze Hamas and that Egypt is perfectly placed to do so both geographically and as the leading state in the Arab world.