Palestinian Travel from Gaza Controlled Again by the Israeli Occupation Government through Karm Salem Crossing, Replacing Rafah

Deposed government slams decision to make Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom Crossing as main Gaza crossing point 

Date: 03 / 07 / 2007 Time: 14:13

Gaza - Ma'an - 

The Hamas government in Gaza criticised the decision to open the Karm Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, located on the Israel-Gaza-Egypt border at the southern most point of the Gaza Strip, to allow the thousands of Palestinians stranded in Egypt back to Gaza.

In a statement, the former unity government rejected the use of Kerem Shalom Crossing, stressing that the Rafah crossing, between Gaza and Egypt, should be opened instead. The opening of the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom Crossing represents an outside intervention and a violation of Palestinian rights, the deposed government said.

There are reportedly up to 6,000 Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side of the Gaza-Egypt border, waiting to be allowed home to Gaza. Many of them are returning from receiving medical treatment in Egypt, not available in the impoverished and besieged Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, the opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing was announced, following an agreement between Israel and Egypt.

"Violation of Palestinian rights"

The Hamas Palestinian government in Gaza said in its statement that forcing the stranded Palestinians to travel through the Israeli-controlled crossing was "a dangerous violation of Palestinian rights", both to their "land and sovereignty."

In the same regard, an official source in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) warned that accepting the transfer of the stranded Palestinians through Kerem Shalom represented an acceptance of a return to occupation of the Gaza Strip.

"In spite of our appreciation for the efforts made by the Egyptian brothers to end the suffering of the Palestinians stranded at the Rafah crossing, we would like to point out that this problem should be brought to an end through the use of the Rafah crossing," the PFLP source said. Furthermore, "We warn that the acceptance of transporting the [stranded] Palestinians through Kerem Shalom is considered as an acceptance of Israeli conditions and the return of the occupation to the strip in order for it to be controlled by the Israeli forces and authorities," the PFLP source warned in a statement.

The PFLP added that, by accepting the use of this crossing, many Palestinians would likely be banned from travelling to Egypt and the rest of the world, or from returning to the strip, because of the Israeli forces.

The statement added that the PFLP calls on the European Union monitors to return to the Rafah crossing and resume operations there in order to allow the Palestinians to leave and return as usual.

Further crises on the horizon

The Popular Resistance Committees, who are one of three armed groups in Gaza responsible for the capture of an Israeli soldier at Kerem Shalom last year, also warned that, if Rafah Crossing is replaced by Kerem Shalom as the Gazans' only gateway to the world, a new crisis would begin.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) also criticized the use of Kerem Shalom in order to solve the crisis of the Palestinians stranded at Rafah Crossing. The PLO's international relations department said that the PLO remains concerned about the Palestinians at the Rafah crossing and is urging the world to intervene to solve the issue and ensure the stranded Palestinians can immediately return home.

In a separate regard, Gush Shalom, the Israeli peace bloc, has also sent a letter of protest to Israeli Prime Minster Olmert and Defence Minister Barak, and also to representatives of the European Union demanding that Rafah Crossing be opened.

"Innocent civilians"

The stranding of some 6,000 Palestinians, who in Gush Shalom's words "have no part in the internecine conflict between Fatae and Hamas," is a "shameful and unacceptable situation [which] must be ended forthwith," according to Gush Shalom's letter.

Gush Shalom also points out that the stranded Palestinians, in addition to suffering from poor sanitary conditions, have now run out of money. The Israeli peace bloc says that this is exacerbated by the fact that, "since last week the services of Western Union and DHL in the Gaza Strip were discontinued under Israeli and American pressure, making it impossible for families to send money to their trapped relatives."

"It is not at their expense that the complicated problems of the Gaza Strip's legal and political status should be solved," Gush Shalom warns Olmert and Barak. "They are innocent civilians caught cruelly in an unpredictable trap, and it is your duty to provide them the elementary right of going home."

Europe also to blame

Gush Shalom also blamed the EU monitors for being complicit in the continued closure of Rafah Crossing.

"The EU however has given the Government of Israel a complete power of veto," Gush Shalom chastises. "It is in practice the Defence Minster of Israel who decides whether or not there will be European monitors at Rafah, and thus whether the crossing will be open or closed. Now, the absence of European monitors at Rafah serves the encirclement and siege of Gaza, shortsightedly and cruelly decreed by the Government of Israel. In this way, the EU has abdicated its own often proclaimed responsibility to promote the welfare and peaceful future of all peoples in the Middle East."

Palestinians trapped at Rafah Crossing fear Israeli arrest if they return through Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom 

Date: 03 / 07 / 2007 Time: 15:46

Gaza - Ma'an - 

A group of Palestinians stranded at the Rafah crossing, between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday appealed to the Egyptian and Palestinian authorities to enable them to return to Gaza as soon as possible.

The stranded Palestinians issued a statement, revealing their concerns of arrest or interrogation by the Israeli authorities who control the Kerem Shalom Crossing. In consequence, they requested that the passage be guaranteed without interrogation or arrest.

The statement added that many of the trapped citizens are affiliated to Palestinian factions and several had travelled to Egypt for medical treatment for wounds sustained during confrontations with the Israelis.

The statement concluded by urging the chief PLO negotiator, Saeb Erekat, to find an immediate solution to their predicament.

In a related regard, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society has demanded health institutions and the international community to take responsibility for the Palestinians stuck at Rafah Crossing.

PMRS stressed that the crossing should be opened to prevent a disaster. The medical society said that the stranded Palestinians are suffering medically and financially.

The society added that Israel is responsible for the death of a mother of five who passed away at the crossing on Sunday due to her severe cancer.

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