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As printed in the
It’s been a while since a jubilant mood reigned in the streets of Gaza, but on Friday, many people here were almost euphoric: “Everyone is happy – this is the dawn of a new era”, Muhammad Dawwas, a journalist from Gaza City, told the Toronto Star. After four years of a grinding siege that has left Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants feeling as though they had become inmates in the world’s largest open-air prison, neighboring Egypt has decided to open the borders. The crossing in Rafah will become Gaza’s new gateway to the world. Egypt’s foreign minister Nabil al-Arabi had announced his decision to open the border last week, calling the siege “disgraceful”. Today (Saturday), Gaza’s isolation will become a thing of the past as the iron gates in Rafah swing open for eight hours every day, except on Fridays and holidays. People will be able to freely enter and leave the strip “to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people”, a statement by the foreign ministry said. Until now, they could only leave Gaza for humanitarian reasons, or if they could prove they had a Visa for another country. Now Cairo has waived the need for visas, only males between the ages of 18-40 years still need to apply. “Finally, we will be able to leave this place for a little while”, says Dawwas. “After all these years we really need a vacation.”
Egypt’s about-face is a major diplomatic victory for the radical-Islamic rulers of the Gaza strip, who only several months ago were completely isolated. Israel had imposed a siege after Hamas came to power in a bloody coup that ousted Fatah, Israel’s partner and the more pragmatic force among the Palestinians, in 2007. When Hamas abducted an Israeli soldier, Gaza was walled off, and the crossing in Rafah closed. Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak had his own reasons for helping isolate Hamas. As a stout ally of the West, he sought to strengthen Fatah and weaken Iran’s ally in the Palestinian camp. But there was more. At home, Mubarak feared the Muslim Brotherhood, the most powerful opposition party, might be inspired or buoyed by any visible success of its daughter movement Hamas in Gaza. Therefore, Cairo not only sealed Gaza’s borders, but even began to install a 20 meter deep iron wall along the 15 km long border. This wall was supposed to prevent Hamas from smuggling goods and arms into the Gaza strip, which not only strengthened it militarily but also kept its struggling regime afloat. Mubarak offered Hamas only one way out: Subordinate to Fatah, relinquish power in Gaza and hand the border crossings back to the Western backed forces of President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas refused.
Regime change in Egypt has now vindicated Hamas’ stubbornness. First, Cairo’s new government applied pressure on Abbas to reconcile with Hamas and form a national unity government that has basically left all the spoils in the hands of the Islamists. Now, Egypt will open Rafah with the border still in the hands of Hamas, something that Israel and the USA had tried to veto for years. The decision came as "part of Egyptian efforts to end divisions among Palestinians and to finalize their reconciliation”, explained a statement from the state owned press agency MENA. Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, praised Cairo’s decision as “a courageous and responsible step that falls in line with Palestinian and Egyptian public opinion.” Another spokesman, Taher a-Nunu, told Al-Jazeera television that he saw “this as an important move for the entry and exit of Palestinian citizens, and we hope it will be developed to enable the Rafah crossing to handle also goods in the future.” This would spell the end of Israel’s siege policy, which was supposed to put pressure on Hamas to release the captured soldier and weaken its power.
Little surprise then that many sources in Jerusalem are highly alarmed with Egypt’s new course. For Israel, the sounds coming out of Cairo are cause for concern: Voices calling for the abrogation of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel are getting louder, while at the same time they call for mending diplomatic ties with Iran, Israel’s arch enemy. The reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is seen as a step backward in Jerusalem, pushing Palestinian moderates back into the arms of extremists, especially after Cairo did not notify Israel of the impending sea change. Now, the opening of the Rafah crossing represents another uncoordinated move: “We are concerned about security”, a source in the Prime Minister’s office told the Star under condition of anonymity. “Hamas was able to arm itself with missiles that can already reach Tel Aviv even though Egypt tried to stop them. What will they do if they can now cross the border unimpeded?” In a troublesome sign for Israel, Egypt’s Paper Al-Masri al-Yaum reported that Cairo has begun to withdraw the heavy machinery from the border that was there to help install the iron wall meant to stop smuggling beneath Rafah’s border. In Cairo, there is little understanding for Israel’s security concerns: “Israel has no right to interfere in the issue of the opening of the Rafah crossing,” Egyptian Chief of Staff General Sami Anan wrote on his Facebook page. “This is an Egyptian- Palestinian matter.”
But while the official Israel is alarmed, many pundits see new opportunities. Ever since Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza and evacuated 22 settlements from there, it has tried to convince the world it bears no further responsibility for the strip’s well being. It was no occupying power anymore, and the siege part of a war between equals, Jerusalem maintained. But the world did not buy into this reasoning and harshly criticized Israel for this policy, which has been termed collective punishment. Pro-Palestinian organizations put together aid shipments to the besieged Gaza-Strip. Last year, a botched boarding attempt by Israeli soldiers onto a convoy of ships carrying goods to Gaza, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed, pushed Israel into deep diplomatic isolation. A new, massive aid flotilla was planned for June. Israel feared another potentially disastrous showdown with its soldiers resulting in further diplomatic isolation and a public relations debacle.
Military experts disagree with their government’s assessment and claim that the opening of the Rafah crossing will not affect the balance of power. With over 100 tunnels operating underground and bringing in contraband like cars and camels, there was no weapon too big to be smuggled into Gaza even before Cairo lifted the siege. But now, with the border open and the Sinai becoming Gaza’s new lifeline, the responsibility for the well-being of the strip and Hamas’ behavior will increasingly fall on Cairo’s shoulders. This was a trap Mubarak had carefully tried to avoid. The daunting challenges presented by the new entente between Egypt and Hamas may also thus hold the unexpected promise of a good riddance for the State of Israel. There was already a first sign of its potential benefits. The organizers of the massive aid flotilla may reconsider sending out their ships once the border with Egypt opens.
© 2011 Gil Yaron - Making the Middle East Understandable
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