Palestinians return to
Gaza after buying daily supplies in Egypt, through the Rafah border
between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, January 23, 2008.
Thousands of Gazans poured into Egypt to buy daily necessities
Wednesday after masked Palestinian militants set off at least five
explosions along the walled-off border earlier in the
day.
Carrying a goat and jumping over a fence on the borders between
southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, Suleiman Abdullah said this was the
only way to the outside world in more than seven months of Israeli
closure imposed on the strip.
"We are witnessing a slow death after more than seven months of
closure, and I believe that we have no other choice," said
Abdullah, as he put the goat in a mini-truck waiting outside Egypt
borders.
He went back again to the Egyptian part of Rafah town to bring
more goats and sheep.
Each sheep costs 120 US dollars, he said, adding that "in Gaza
we sell it for 200 dollars."
The 24-year-old young man is among tens of thousands of Gazans
who poured into Egypt on Wednesday, after dozens of Palestinian
militants blew down most of the border fences between the two
territories.
Palestinians make their
way to Egypt after Palestinian gunmen blew up a section of the
border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt January 23,
2008.
Witnesses said they also saw bulldozers removing barbed wires on
the borders as well as rubbles of the cement and blocks of the
fences near the Rafah crossing, the only gateway for the Gazans to
the outside world bypassing Israel.
On the roads from Gaza City and other areas, hundreds of trucks,
buses and cars full of jubilant Gazans were seen heading to the
southern Gaza Strip and then to Egypt to exploit the rare chance to
escape Gaza's isolation.
Hundreds of thousands parked their cars and vehicles in the Gaza
segment of Rafah and then walked a distance of about 800 meters to
cross the hole.
At the hole, dozens of people were seen squeezing and pushing
each other until they got out of it. They have to walk another 80
meters to a barbed wire and then jump over a short wall, and
finally they are in Egypt.
Abdullah added that "the best way to break the siege is by
force. Israel closed down all crossings, and the people found it as
an opportunity to get to Egypt and buy what they need."
The border wall tear-down came after Israel's decision on Monday
to slightly ease the blockade against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip,
which is home to nearly 1.5 million residents heavily depending on
outside aid inflow of almost everything, from basic foodstuffs to
medicine.
After Islamic Hamas movement chased out security forces loyal to
President Mahmoud Abbas and took control of the Gaza Strip in mid
June last year, Israel closed down Gaza crossings and labeled the
coastal enclave a hostile entity.
Palestinians walk
across the wall of Rafah border between the southern Gaza Strip and
Egypt to pour into the Egyptian side to buy food, fuel and other
supplies, January 23, 2008.
Over the past seven months, Israel has just allowed some basic
food into Gaza, including rice, sugar, cocking batter, flour,
fruits, diary products and frozen meat.
On January 17, Israel decided to tighten the siege on Gaza and
close all crossings leading to Gaza. Since then, Israel has been
barring fuels and basic food products from reaching the Gaza Strip,
in retaliation to ongoing makeshift rocket attacks carried out by
Palestinian militants from Gaza against Israel.
Mufida Abu Zarqa, a 52-year-old mother from Gaza was seen
walking with her three daughters and getting into the hole. After
she managed to enter through it, she said she wants to go to Egypt
to visit her ill sister.
"In addition to visiting my ill sister in Egypt, I want to buy
some staff when I come back to Gaza," she said, adding that "over
the past seven months of closure, we lack many kinds of products,
such as food, fuel and cigarettes."
Witnesses said that around 400,000 Palestinians crossed through
the destroyed borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Many
brought back boxes of cloth washing powders, or boxes of dry
dates.
Sami Hamdan, a resident of Khan Younis city, seven kilometers
north of Rafah town, said he went to Egypt to buy some staff which
he could sell then in the city to make money.
"I own a store in Khan Younis, but most of the goods in my store
had run out and I went to bring staff that I still don't have in my
store," said Hamdan as he and two of his sons were carrying boxes
full of clothes washing powder.
"We go to Egypt to buy goods and staff with cheap price, and we
sell it in Gaza with higher prices. We make money in order to live
in such harsh living circumstances," said Jamil Safi as he was
pulling a mother sheep and its son.
It was the second time in two years that Palestinians destroy
the fence wall at the borders with Egypt. In September 2005 after
Israel pulled out from the Gaza Strip, thousands Gazans crossed
into Egypt.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said earlier in the day that he
ordered the Egyptian security forces at the Rafah crossing to allow
Palestinians to cross the terminal to buy their basic needs.
In response to the borders breach, Israel threatened to bar
again fuels for operating Gaza power station and basic food
supplies into Gaza.
Deposed Prime Minister of Hamas in Gaza Ismail Haneya proposed
to hold a three-way meeting that include Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak and President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas government to discuss
the opening of Gaza crossings.
The Hamas government said in a statement that the only way to
resolve the problem "is by holding dialogue and looking for a
proper way to end the crisis and break the Israeli siege."
Fatah movement and President Mahmoud Abbas accused Hamas
movement in Gaza for creating the crisis by blowing down the
6-meter-high and nine-km-long fence wall and creating holes to let
people cross into Egypt.
(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2008)
