Mubarak tells Egyptian soldiers not to stop the human tide, Palestinians 'starving;'
MARK MACKINNON
RAFAH, EGYPT — Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians burst over the Egyptian border Wednesday for a chaotic but joyous shopping spree after masked gunmen broke Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip by destroying the rusty iron wall that marked Gaza's southern edge.
A series of predawn explosions destroyed most of the 11-kilometre-long barrier. Gaza residents and militants indicated that the barrier had been secretly cut weeks earlier so the detonations would bring it down. Crowds of Palestinians seized the opportunity to escape their isolation, flooding across to Egypt on foot and in taxis and donkey carts.
After months of deprivation, they bought everything and anything they could get their hands on and within hours store shelves on the Egyptian side of Rafah were almost completely cleared of goods. Palestinians with a bulldozer later cleared away some of the wreckage of the border wall, making it easier for cars to pass.
Israel worries that weapons could flow freely into Gaza, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had to tread carefully between his support for Fatah, and strong support in his country for the rival Hamas, which controls Gaza.
The opening of the border followed six days of escalating economic siege that saw Israel slash deliveries of fuel and other essentials to the Hamas-controlled strip. The blockade had left many of Gaza's 1.6 million residents with only occasional electricity, and caused shortages of food, medicines and other basic supplies.
For many Gazans, Wednesday was the first time in months they'd been able to buy household goods, such as dish and laundry soap. Goods had been prevented from entering Gaza by a partial blockade Israel imposed after Hamas seized control of the strip last June. The blockade was tightened last week in response to rocket fire targeting Israeli towns. Estimates of how many Palestinians crossed into Egypt Wednesday ranged from 200,000 to 500,000.
The influx continued Thursday morning, with thousands of Palestinians streaming into Egypt, where riot police began gathering at the border and directing traffic away from the downed wall.
Dozens of officers with search dogs used batons to beat the hoods of cars and pickup trucks that massed at the border to carry Palestinians further into Egyptian territory.
For some, it was the first time in their lives they'd been able to leave the crowded confines of Gaza, a tiny coastal territory that has been under some form of Israeli control for more than four decades.
“It's been very hard for us. There is no electricity in Gaza, the sewage is dangerous to your health, there's no flour and no bread,” said 23-year-old Nasreen Ayash, who crossed into Egypt with her husband Mohammed, 30, and their one-year-old son, Omar. They didn't have money to do much shopping, but wanted to see what life was like outside of Gaza for the first time in their lives. “Today is like a vacation for us. It's easier for us to go to [Sinai] than to go to the West Bank.”
Others came to replenish cupboards that were nearly bare. As Ms. Ayash spoke, masses of men, women and children surged jubilantly past, clutching bags of food, cartons of cigarettes and jugs of gasoline.
Others were more ambitious in their shopping, returning in vehicles laden with sheep, goats, refrigerators and motorcycles. Streetside money traders did a brisk business, buying Israeli shekels from Gazans and selling them the Egyptian pounds they'd need for their shopping trip.
Another popular item was cement, which Israel has barred from entering Gaza since Hamas took power last year. “I'm finally going to build my house!” shouted 29-year-old Radi Abu Salem as he drove a donkey cart stacked high with sacks marked “Egyptian Portland Cement” back into Gaza after an afternoon of shopping in Egypt. “I've been waiting six months to get cement.”
After years of boycotts and depression, Gaza's economy staged a mini-recovery in the first hours after the border opened. As long-missing goods reappeared on store shelves, prices fell sharply: The cost of a pack of cigarettes fell from 17 shekels (about $5) in the morning, to seven shekels by late afternoon. Prices on the Egyptian side, meanwhile, shot up as demand soon eclipsed supply.
Egyptian soldiers and riot police, who on Tuesday had repelled a Palestinian effort aimed at opening the Rafah crossing in a clash that injured dozens of people, stood amid the chaos, clutching wood batons and plastic shields but taking no action to stop the free-for-all. Realizing the military was standing aside, taxi drivers in Rafah began offering to drive Palestinians to other parts of Egypt.
Uniformed Hamas militiamen directed traffic returning to Gaza and occasionally stopped and searched cars in what Palestinian media reports said was an effort to prevent drug smuggling.
Citing the possibility that militants and weapons could now freely cross into Gaza, Israeli officials said the border breach was a “first-class security threat” and called on Egypt to take steps to restore order.
“Obviously, we are worried about the situation. It could potentially allow anybody to enter,” said Arye Mekel, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry.
But Mr. Mubarak, who before Wednesday had been accused of tacitly supporting the Israeli blockade by keeping the Rafah crossing closed, said he had ordered his soldiers not to stop the human tide because the Palestinians were “starving.”
“I told [the soldiers] to let them come in and eat and buy food and then return them later as long as they were not carrying weapons,” Mr. Mubarak told reporters in Cairo.
Israel, under international pressure, eased its blockade on Tuesday and allowed limited deliveries of fuel and other humanitarian goods. However, aid organizations said shipments of diesel fuel and other necessities were halted again Wednesday after Rafah was opened.
Any easing of the blockade is likely to stabilize Hamas's rule, something Egypt – which has allied itself with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the rival Fatah party – is not eager to see. Due to an understanding between Israel and Egypt, the Rafah crossing has been largely closed since Hamas took power in Gaza.
However, a crackdown at Rafah could have serious domestic repercussions for Mr. Mubarak. Hamas is an offshoot to the Muslim Brotherhood, the most powerful opposition movement in Egypt. Several hundred Brotherhood activists were arrested Wednesday after taking part in pro-Hamas demonstrations in Cairo.
The city of Rafah has been divided into Palestinian and Egyptian sectors since 1967, when Israel seized Gaza after the Six-Day War.
The border was breached in 2005, after Israel's unilateral withdrawal of soldiers and settlers from Gaza. Order was restored three days later by Egyptian forces who sealed the hole with barbed wire. But damage to the border wall in 2005 was far less severe than that done by Wednesday's explosions, which left little of the barrier standing.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Wednesday that he was willing to work with the Egyptian government, as well as Mr. Abbas, to restore order at the border. His one condition was that Israel no longer have a say in when Rafah opens and closes.
~ Associated Press
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