Gazans continue to flow into Egypt, Israel says siege continues, Egypt sends troops

Thursday January 24, 2008 12:04 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News ghassanb at imemc dot org

As thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip continued to flow into Egypt through the southern Gaza strip city of Rafah border wall, the Israeli government announced that it will continue the siege on the Coastal region.

On Wednesday at dawn the Palestinian resistance destroyed part of the Wall separating the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah from Egypt using five home made bombs, shortly afterwards thousands of Palestinians flocked through and started to buy food and fuel supplies from Egypt to bring back to the Coastal region

The Rafah crossing, located in the southern side of the Gaza strip, is the only way for Palestinians to leave or enter the region, since June 2007; the crossing has been closed by the Israeli and Egyptian troops.

On Friday last week Israel declared all Gaza's crossings completely closed, with a total ban of fuel and supplies to the coastal region. By Sunday Gaza had no electricity since the Solo Gaza power plant depends on Israeli Fuel. After a widespread international outcry following Israel cutting off all fuel into Gaza, the Israeli authorities agreed to allow fuel and medicine into the Palestinian coastal region on Tuesday for one day only.

Today Egyptian police and troops closed most of the border wall section but continued to allow Palestinians to cross into the country. Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, told reporters in Cairo that he had given orders to his troops to allow Palestinians to cross into Egypt because they were starving. Mubarak said that the troops will return the Palestinians into Gaza after they have shopped for supplies "as long as they are not carrying weapons".

Hassam Zaki the spokesman of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated Thursday that Egypt will keep the Rafah borders open if the humanitarian crisis continues in the Gaza Strip. Hamas officials asked the Palestinians crossing into Egypt to respect the authority of the Egyptian troops and police.

Hamas has controlled the Gaza strip since June 2007, after several months of bloody infighting between the movement and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.

Meanwhile Israel is totally unhappy with Egypt for allowing Palestinians to shop there and come back into the region. The Israeli Prime Minister Ehod Olmert said Thursday the Israeli siege and attacks on Gaza stay in effect, he added that only a low amount of humanitarian aid and fuel will be allowed into Gaza.

Matan Vilnai the Israeli Defense Minister Deputy, told Israeli media that Israel should stop water, electricity, food and fuel supplies into Gaza, he said that since Gaza now is open to Egypt then Israel do not have responsibility towards the necessary supplies anymore. Israel controls all border crossing into Gaza except the Rafah one; Israel also controls the drinking water and electricity of Gaza.

Gazans flock into Egypt; claim prices doubled in Egyptian border towns

Date: 24 / 01 / 2008 Time: 13:40

Gaza – Ma'an –

For the second day in row, Palestinians crossed from the Gaza Strip into Egypt through the toppled border fence at Rafah to stock up on basic supplies.

Egyptian security forces stood and watched on Wednesday as tens of thousands of Palestinians crossed the border into Egypt after masked Palestinian fighters destroyed a portion of the border wall between Egypt and the Gaza Strip using explosives.

On Thursday Palestinians from the besieged coastal region again made for the shops in the Egyptian town of Al-Arish, buying up food supplies, as well as livestock, electrical equipment and cell phones. Cigarettes and cement were also high on their list of purchases.

There is scant regard to the international reaction and repercussions of the destruction of the border wall. Gazans simply inquire as to where the international community was when 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip were suffering under the crippling siege.

A journalist from the Gaza Strip, who did not want to be identified, told Ma'an's reporter that he had not been able to finish building his apartment because there was no cement left in the Gaza Strip. He said that he has now bought one ton of cement from Egypt at a very low price.

Egyptian cities near the border are enjoying an economic boom as the Gazans clear out the shops in Al-Arish, Sheikh Zuwaid and Rafah faster than the Egyptian traders are able to restock.

Palestinians have complained that some Egyptian shop owners have been cashing in on the unexpected influx of clientele, doubling their prices. They said they returned to the Gaza Strip without buying anything because of the high prices some Egyptians are asking. They also complained they have had to return to Gaza on foot because they are unable to afford to pay the exorbitantly high cost of transportation.

Many of the Gazans wanted to go to Cairo but they were prevented from doing so by Egyptian authorities who closed the As-Salam Bridge over the Suez Canal.

Most of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million residents have been trapped inside the Gaza Strip since Israel closed the Gaza Strip's border crossings in June.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.