One of the biggest challenges confronting the Palestinian National Authority will be securing its borders. For the first time, Mahmoud Abbas? government is responsible for the Gaza border with Egypt . Prior to this, Israel controlled the border between Egypt and Gaza. After the initial handover, the Palestinian security forces did little to control the border, and people flooded into Egypt. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has not been able to provide a level of security to prevent Hamas , Islamic Jihad , or some of the other terrorist organizations from conducting operations in Israel, never mind securing their borders. The Israeli government?s position has been that the PNA has not been able to curb general lawlessness, let alone thwart sophisticated criminal and terrorist groups. The initial pullout of Israeli forces from the Gaza border was to be replaced by an Egyptian force of 750. Yet, when the Israeli troops departed, Palestinians swarmed over the border into Egypt. The Palestinians have been conducting negotiations with the European Union and Israel about having the EU send a force to secure the border. The Israeli government previously did not agree to this same measure but will be forced to allow some other force to assist since the Egyptians were not able to control or stop the Palestinians from crossing into Egypt.

With the Israeli pullout from the Philadelphia Route in Gaza, smugglers, criminals, and terrorists will be eager to challenge the Palestinians security forces, the 750 Egyptians, and whatever EU force is deployed on the border. Israel was unable to prevent the smugglers from moving anything from weapons to household commodities into Gaza from Egypt. Smuggling items into Gaza concealed in hidden compartments and digging sophisticated tunnels, the smugglers have operated successfully for the last 30 years. The Palestinian Authority did not totally concern itself what was being smuggled into Gaza or the West Bank from Israel.