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<div class="entry-date">September 19, 2013<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/19/egypt-joins-israel-as-gazas-jailer/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/19/egypt-joins-israel-as-gazas-jailer/</a><br>
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><big><b>A Militarized Border</b></big></div>
<h1 class="article-title">Egypt Joins Israel as Gaza’s Jailer</h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle">by PAM BAILEY and MEDEA BENJAMIN</div>
<div class="main-text"><big> </big>
<p><big><big>There was a time when activist groups that focused on
helping the Palestinians in Gaza reserved their harshest language and
protests for Israel, which long has prohibited both air and sea traffic
in and out of Gaza; tightly limited exchanges through its Erez
terminal; and banned exports altogether.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>While movement in and out of Gaza via the Egyptian
terminal at Rafah was restricted as well, it nonetheless was a critical
lifeline for Palestinians needing to travel, and for humanitarian aid.
Likewise, members of the Egyptian government often played a
constructive role in facilitating negotiations between the various
Palestinian factions, as well as with international parties.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>However, in the two months since the Egyptian military
took control, it has made clear it will no longer serve as that
“bridge”. In fact, as the military and other opponents of ousted
President Mohamed Morsi increasingly blame Palestinian “elements” for
growing unrest and violence, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula, the
interim government of Egypt has increasingly allied itself with Israel
in strategy and actions – becoming just as much Gazans’ jailer as its
neighbor to the east. As<a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypt-squeezing-economic-pipeline-to-gaza-strip/2013/09/08/82abda7a-18a2-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.washingtonpost.com']);">
<i>The Washington Post </i>reported</a>, “with Egypt’s military-backed
interim government shutting down the tunnels and largely closing its
own pedestrian crossing at Rafah, Gaza is increasingly shut off from
the world”.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>In response, organizations ranging from the European
Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza to<a href="http://www.gazaark.org/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.gazaark.org']);">
Gaza’s Ark</a> (an international coalition focused on ending the
Israeli ban on exports) are directly including Egypt in their
messaging. And a petition launched by a grassroots coalition calling
itself the<a
href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Egypt_Open_Gazas_Rafah_Crossing_1/?copy"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.avaaz.org']);">
International Campaign to #OpenRafahBorder</a> attracted more than
1,000 signatures from around the world in just the first 24 hours. The
coalition’s goal is to collect 25,000 signatures and deliver them to
Egyptian ambassadors, the United Nations and human rights organizations.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><b>Stranded students and patients</b></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Before Egypt’s military ousted Morsi on July 3, an
estimated 1,200 people-a-day used to cross through Rafah, which was
Gaza’s main window to the world. Since then, the average number of
permitted travelers has only been<a
href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-palestinians-egypt-gaza-idUSBRE98B0IY20130912"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.reuters.com']);">
250 each day</a>, <i>if </i>Rafah is open at all. At this article’s
writing, Rafah had been closed for six consecutive days. The<a
href="http://www.euromid.org/marsad/index.php?action=main/readcontent&lang=en&cat=2&id=454"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.euromid.org']);">
EuroMid Observer for Human Rights</a> estimates that at least 10,000
Palestinians are currently on the waiting list to cross on the Gaza
side alone.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Many of the individuals left stranded are students trying
to get to universities after months of effort to apply for scarce
scholarships. Malaka Mohammed, a 23-year-old refugee, is set to begin
studying global politics and law at the UK’s Sheffield University on
Sept. 30, after working hard to obtain a partial scholarship and
fundraising through an<a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Malaka"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.justgiving.com']);">
online campaign</a>. With about half of the needed donations already
in, Mohammed took a risk and made arrangements to travel to the UK on
September 18. Now she is wondering if all that work was for naught.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>“Gaza really is the world’s biggest prison and it’s become
more so every day. We thought the Rafah crossing was our exit to
freedom and happiness. But it has become a place where people lose
their hopes,” she posted on Facebook.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Other stranded travelers include persons needing medical
care. Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, told<a
href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-palestinians-egypt-gaza-idUSBRE98B0IY20130912"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.reuters.com']);">
Reuters</a> that 1,000 individuals a month require medical care in
Egypt or other countries due to the shortages and other difficulties in
the Strip. While foreign physicians often travel to Gaza to bring vital
supplies and provide care, these days they aren’t being allowed in.
“Until June, we had received 60 delegations of doctors who performed
surgery on 1,000 patients. No delegation has arrived since then,” Qidra
told Reuters.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><strong>Gaza Faces Fuel Shortages</strong></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Although word came on September 16, that Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had<a
href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=630344"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.maannews.net']);">
interceded</a> with the Egyptian interim government to open up a few
hours for students and sick people, Gazans were unimpressed. Shahd
Abusalama, who is trying to leave to study in Istanbul, posted this
comment: “Thanks a lot, Abbas, for finding some time to think about us
and deciding to take action. We, the Palestinian people in the Gaza
Strip, appreciate that you finally have some sympathy for us. The
crisis cannot be solved by opening up for just two days, four working
hours each. This is not a solution. If they manage to let 500 people
cross, what will happen to the rest? F**k him!”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><b>No more pipeline of supplies</b></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Currently, the only way for goods and supplies to enter
Gaza is Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing (Rafah was not constructed to
handle freight traffic). However, the volume allowed is far below the
population’s needs (179 trucks a day, compared to nearly 600 before
Israel imposed the siege in 2007). Thus, underground smuggling tunnels
from Egypt to Gaza have played the role of a crucial “safety valve”.
According to the EuroMid Observer for Human Rights, Gaza’s businesses
have relied on the tunnels for more than 45 percent of their raw
materials – including about 7,500 tons of construction materials per
day.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>However, the Egyptian military now has launched a massive
campaign to destroy the tunnels, without a plan for allowing goods in
via another route. The operation seems to be part of an effort to
cripple Hamas – an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood – which governs
the coastal enclave.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Local sources say 90 percent of the tunnels have been
forced out of operation; fewer than 10 are still open, compared to an
estimated 300 before the crackdown. As a result of the tunnel
destruction and other restrictions, says the Euro-Mid Observer, 60
percent of industrial businesses are closed and the rest are operating
at partial capacity, putting more than 19,500 people out of work.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>A related challenge is that Gazans have come to rely on
the cheap, state-subsidised fuel and gas smuggled from Egypt (Israeli
gas is twice as expensive and thus not affordable). Long lines at gas
stations, as well as a dramatic reduction in cars available for
transportation, are now increasingly the reality in Gaza.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Yousef Aljamal, a young Gazan employee of a local NGO,
posted on Facebook, “the transportation crisis in Gaza is deepening. I
waited half-an-hour this morning to get a ride to my office, to no
avail. I had to change the route I take every day, increasing the fees
I have to pay. It also took me half-an-hour to get a ride to get home.
Exhausted!”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>With the irrepressible Gazan “graveyard” humor, another
friend commented, “I heard that our electricity company is gonna run
their generators on donkeys – sounds like good news: green energy!”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>On September 5, the Palestinian Energy Authority warned
that the Gaza Power Plant is in danger of shutting down completely due
to lack of fuel. If the plant shuts down, the result would be power
outages of 12 to 16 hours-a-day, up from the current 8 to 12 hours,
disabling water and waste-disposal systems as well as crippling many
businesses.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Even more alarming,<a
href="http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/features/economy-of-the-occupation/7001-gaza-power-plant-shutdown-tomorrow-likely"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.alternativenews.org']);">
warns the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to the
Occupied Palestinian Territory</a>, is the fact that Gaza’s 14
hospitals and 60 health centres have long relied on 250,000 litres of
the less-expensive Egyptian fuel each month (likewise, 30 percent of
their medicines and other supplies had come through Rafah).</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><b>Militarization of the Gaza-Egypt border</b></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Indicative of just how much – and how permanently – the
situation on the ground is changing is the<a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypt-squeezing-economic-pipeline-to-gaza-strip/2013/09/08/82abda7a-18a2-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.washingtonpost.com']);">
news</a> that the Egyptian army has begun bulldozing and blowing up
houses on its side of the border near Rafah. The action is step one
towards clearing the way for a “buffer zone” hundreds of yards wide
between the two sides, replicating the barren no-man’s-land that Israel
enforces inside Gaza to keep Palestinians from approaching the Israeli
border. Hamas officials told <i>The Washington Post</i> that the
Egyptian military plans to dig a moat along the border and fill it with
water.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Meanwhile, this month two Egyptian army tanks<a
href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/12/egypt-tanks-cross-fence-leading-to-gaza/#ixzz2esUPljnK"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.foxnews.com']);">
crossed into the Gaza side</a> of the border for the first time;
although they didn’t go far, it created a precedent.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Gaza fishermen are being attacked as well. On September 14,<a
href="http://www.france24.com/en/20130914-egypt-arrests-two-gaza-fishermen-hamas"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.france24.com']);">
news reports</a> confirmed that Egyptian naval forces had opened fire
at and arrested two fishermen in waters off Rafah. That was the second
time in recent weeks that Egyptian forces opened fire at Gaza fishermen.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>As if taking their cue from the new bellicosity of Egypt,
the Israeli military has begun to abrogate the concessions brokered by
Morsi’s government in November 2012, as part of a ceasefire that ended
eight days of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip and retaliatory fire
from groups in the territory.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>As part of the agreement, Israel had reduced the “buffer
zone” along its border with Gaza, from 300 metres to 100. However,
after Morsi was ousted by the Egyptian military,<a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-exploits-egypt-turmoil-increase-attacks-gaza-farmers/12765"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://electronicintifada.net']);">
farmers reported</a> being shot at as far as 500 metres out. The
Palestinian Center for Human Rights documented during July and August
that Israel was responsible for one shelling, 12 shootings and seven
incursions in the buffer zone – resulting in one death and seven
injuries, including two children.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>It seems clear that as the world remains focused on Syria
and Iran, Israel and Egypt are working in concert to “re-write” the
facts on the ground for Gaza. It’s time for the international activist
community to mobilize.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><i><strong>Pam Bailey</strong> is a freelance journalist
and activist who has lived and worked in Gaza. </i></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><i><strong>Medea Benjamin</strong> is co-founder of Global
Exchange and<a href="http://codepink.org/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://codepink.org']);">
Codepink: Women for Peace</a>.</i></big></big></p>
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