Out of Egypt: Escaped Would-Be Bomber Is Home in Gaza

BUREIJ REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza -- Hassan Wishah thought he wouldn't see his family in this refugee camp for at least six more years. He was imprisoned in Egypt three years ago after he was caught in the Sinai Desert trying to slip into Israel to carry out a suicide bombing. He was transporting explosives when he was arrested.

He says the conditions in the prison were terrible -- "not fit for an animal, let alone a person."

On Saturday night, as the riots engulfed Cairo, the police and guards left the prison. Wishah, 27, escaped with a fellow prisoner from the Sinai. They made their way through the desert to the Egyptian town of Rafah, and then through an illegal underground tunnel to Gaza.

Wishah arrived in this refugee camp to a hero's welcome and saw his 3-year-old son for the first time. Now, the tall man with green eyes spends his days praying and studying at a mosque.

"I was hoping I could be a martyr, but this did not happen for me," he told AOL News without making direct eye contact, as is common with very observant Muslims when speaking to women. "The spirit of resistance should be in every Palestinian in this part of the world."

Clearly, Israeli officials are worried about the effects of the chaos in Egypt.

"We know that there were moments of greater freedom of movement across the border between Gaza and Egypt, and people took advantage of it," Yigal Palmor, the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said in an interview. "We are definitely concerned about the flow of weapons from Egypt into Gaza that could be used against Israelis, either in Gaza or in Sinai."

There are also millions of migrants from Sudan who would like to cross the border from Egypt, where they are poorly treated and often imprisoned, into Israel. Egyptian security forces frequently fire on these illegal migrants to stop them. Israel worries it could be inundated by millions of migrants if the border is open.

Palestinians on the streets of Gaza say they support the crowds in Egypt who are demonstrating against President Hosni Mubarak.

"Change is good," said taxi driver Mohammed al-Masharawi. "But Mubarak is very tricky, so who knows if he will really go."

Masharawi was driving around Gaza, stopping at gas stations and asking if they had fuel. Only diesel was available, he was told. Since the chaos in Egypt began, the fuel supply through the tunnels has been cut off. Masharawi said he has some gasoline stockpiled at home, but he is worried about having enough to drive his taxi.

Palestinians throughout Gaza have been closely following the developments in Egypt. Most usually watch Al-Jazeera, which is broadcast on the Egyptian satellite program NileSat, but Egypt has taken the news network off the air. So Gazans have found other ways to watch the events in Egypt.

Also watching closely are Hamas officials, who are clearly worried that the unrest will spread to Gaza, which was under Egyptian administration until the 1967 Six-Day War.

Several hundred Palestinians today demonstrated against Mubarak, whom many in Gaza see as a tool of Israel. The demonstrators were all Hamas supporters who represented Hamas-affiliated student councils at Gaza universities. Hamas security officials stood by but did nothing to stop the protest. Earlier this week, Hamas officials broke up a similar protest, arresting several demonstrators.

Hamas officials say Israel should be even more concerned.

"The people here in Gaza might try to storm the Israeli border, or they might burst out against the Egyptian border," Yusuf al-Mansi, minister of telecommunications, told AOL News.

In 2008, hundreds of thousands of Gazans broke the flimsy fence separating them from Egypt and rushed to buy products in the country as Israel deepened its siege of the impoverished Palestinian territory. Al-Mansi said that 80 percent of Gaza's daily needs come through the tunnels and that there could be widespread shortages.

So far, with the exception of gasoline, there were no signs of shortages, although prices of some goods such as cigarettes and cooking oil had risen.

Hamas is closely tied to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, one of the largest opposition groups. If the Brotherhood becomes part of any new government, that is expected to strengthen Hamas and solidify its rule over Gaza even more.

Back at the refugee camp, these specifics don't concern Wishah, who said he hopes he will be able to become a martyr in the future. He said he's not afraid of being arrested by either Israel or Hamas.

"I fear no one but Allah," he said, clicking his worry beads as his young nieces and nephews surrounded him.