Egypt will permanently open the Rafah border crossing to ease the blockade on Gaza

Egypt will permanently open the Rafah border crossing to ease the blockade on Gaza, Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi said Friday, sparking Israeli concerns over the implications for regional security.
  
Arabi said in an interview with Al-Jazeera his country would take "important steps to help ease the blockade on Gaza in the few days to come," according to the Arabic-language satellite channel. He said Egypt would no longer accept that the Rafah border remain blocked, describing his country's decision to seal it off as "shameful."
  
In Tel Aviv, a a senior Israeli official said the Zionist entity is "very concerned" about the implications of the Rafah crossing being thrown open.
  
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Israeli official said Gaza's Hamas rulers had already build up a "dangerous military machine" in northern Sinai which could be further strengthened by opening the border. "We are very concerned about the situation in northern Sinai where Hamas has succeeded in building a dangerous military machine, despite Egyptian efforts to prevent that," he told AFP, without giving further details. "What power could they amass if Egypt was no longer acting to prevent that build up?"
  
The fact that the new regime in Cairo was seeking to upgrade its ties with Gaza's Hamas rulers was an issue which could have strategic implications for Israel's national security, he said. "We are troubled by the developments in Egypt, by the voices calling to annul the peace treaty, by the rapprochement between Egypt and Iran, and by the upgrading of relations between Egypt and Hamas. These developments potentially have strategic implications for Israel's national security."