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<span class="post_date" title="2015-12-10">December 10, 2015</span>
<h1 class="headline" itemprop="name"><a
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/10/open-rafah-now-siege-on-gaza-is-a-cruel-and-political-failure/"
rel="bookmark">Open Rafah Now: Siege on Gaza is a Cruel and
Political Failure</a></h1>
<p class="post_meta"> <span class="post_author_intro">by</span> <span
class="post_author" itemprop="author"><a
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/author/ramzy-baroud/"
rel="nofollow">Ramzy Baroud</a></span> </p>
<div class="post_content" itemprop="articleBody"><b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/10/open-rafah-now-siege-on-gaza-is-a-cruel-and-political-failure/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/10/open-rafah-now-siege-on-gaza-is-a-cruel-and-political-failure/</a></small></small></small></b><br>
<p>When Egypt decided to open the Rafah border crossing which
separates it from Gaza for two days, December 3 and 4, a sense
of guarded relief was felt in the impoverished Strip. True, 48
hours were hardly enough for the tens of thousands of patients,
students and other travelers to leave or return to Gaza, but the
idea that a respite was on its way helped to break, albeit
slightly, the sense of collective captivity felt by entrapped
Palestinians.</p>
<p>Of course, the Rafah border crisis will hardly be resolved by a
single transitory decision, mainly because Gaza is blockaded for
political reasons, and only a sensible political strategy can
end the suffering there or, at least, lessen its horrendous
impact.</p>
<p>Palestinians speak angrily of an Israel siege on Gaza, a
reality that cannot be countered by all the official Israeli
hasbara and media distortions. In fact, not only is it far worse
than a blockade as an economic restriction but it is a constant
violent process aimed at brutalizing, and punishing a community
of 1.9 million people. However, the Egyptian closure of the
Rafah border crossing, which has contributed to the ‘success’ of
the Israeli siege is rarely discussed within the same context:
as a political decision first and foremost.</p>
<p>In a border-related agreement that was reportedly signed
mid-November between Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud
Abbas and Egypt’s Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, both sides seemed genial
and unperturbed about the tragedy bubbling up north of the
Egyptian border.</p>
<p>The ‘activities’ near Rafah were intended to “secure the
border,” Sisi told Abbas, according to a statement issued by the
Egyptian President’s office. These activities “could never be
meant to harm the Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip.”</p>
<p>The term ‘activities’ here is, of course, a reference to the
demolishing of thousands of homes alongside the 12-kilometer
border between Rafah in Gaza and Egypt, in addition to the
destruction and flooding of hundreds of tunnels, which have
served as Gaza’s main lifeline that sustained the Strip
throughout the Israeli siege during most of the last decade.</p>
<p>Abbas, of course, has no qualms about the Egyptian action, the
result of which has been the closure of the Rafah crossing for
300 days in 2015 alone, according to a new study originating in
Gaza.</p>
<p>Last year, in an interview with Egypt’s ‘Al-Akbar’ newspaper,
Abbas said that the destruction of the tunnels was the best
solution to prevent Gazans from using the smuggling business for
their own benefits. He then spoke about 1,800 Gazans becoming
millionaires as a result of the tunnel trade, although no
corroboration for this specific number was ever divulged.</p>
<p>Of course, Abbas has rarely been concerned about the rising
fortunes of the alleged ‘millionaires’, because his Authority,
which subsists on international handouts, is rife with them. His
grievance is with Hamas, which has been regulating tunnel trade
and taxing merchants for the goods they import into the Strip.
Not only were the tunnels a lifeline for Gaza’s economy, the
underground business helped fill a void in Hamas’ own budget, a
fact that has irked Abbas for years.</p>
<p>Following Hamas’ election victory in January 2006 and the
bloody clash between the new Government and Abbas’s Fatah
faction, Hamas has experienced immense pressure: Israel launched
three massive and deadly wars, while maintaining a strict siege;
Egypt ensured the near permanent closure of its border; and
Abbas continued to pay the salaries for tens of thousands of his
supporters in Gaza, on the condition that they did not join the
Hamas Government.</p>
<p>Moreover, the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, the turmoil in Egypt and
the war in Syria, in particular, lessened Hamas’ chances of
escaping the financial stranglehold that made governing Gaza,
broken by war and fatigued by the siege, nearly unviable.</p>
<p>While Israel, from the outset, explained that its siege was
based on security requirements, Egypt eventually did the same,
alleging that destroying the tunnels, demolishing homes and
enlarging the buffer zone were necessary steps to stave off the
flow of weapons from Gaza to Sinai’s militants who are
responsible for deadly attacks on the Egyptian army.</p>
<p>Oddly, the Egyptian logic is the exact opposite of the Israeli
logic, upon which the siege was justified in the first place.
Israel claims that Gaza’s factions use the tunnels to smuggle
weapons and explosives from Sinai, not the other way around.</p>
<p>Indeed, allegedly smuggling weapons from Gaza to Sinai has
little to do with the closure of Rafah or even the destruction
of the tunnels.</p>
<p>With American expertise and aid, Egypt began erecting a steel
wall along the Gaza border as early as December 2009. This
preceded the Egyptian revolution and the political chasm in that
society which was followed by the militant chaos. Indeed, there
was little violence in Sinai then, at least, not one blamed
partly on Palestinians. The construction of the wall took place
during the rule of Hosni Mubarak in order to accommodate
Israeli-American pressure to contain Hamas and other fighting
groups. Abbas, eager to see the demise of his rivals, was in
agreement, as he remains until today, ever ready to entertain
any ideas that would once more give rise to his Fatah party in
the Strip.</p>
<p>The militant violence in Sinai did not usher in the siege on
Gaza, but only hastened the demolishing of homes, destruction of
tunnels and provided further justification for the permanent
closure of the border.</p>
<p>Life in Gaza became impossible, to the extent that the UN
Conference on Trade and Development released a report last
September warning that Gaza could become ‘uninhabitable’ in less
than five years, if current economic trends continue.</p>
<p>But these economic trends are the result of intentional
policies, mostly centered at achieving political ends. Moreover,
none of these ends have been achieved after nearly a decade of
experimentation. True, many have died as they waited to receive
proper medical care and thousands perished in war; many of the
maimed cannot even acquire wheelchairs, let alone prosthetics,
but neither has Israel managed to stop the Resistance, Egypt
quell the rebellion in Sinai nor has Abbas regained his lost
factional stronghold.</p>
<p>Yet, things are getting much worse for Gaza. The World Bank
issued a report earlier this year stating that 43% of Gaza’s
population are unemployed, and that unemployment among the youth
has reached 60%. According to the report, these unemployment
figures are the highest in the world.</p>
<p>Since the establishment of the border between Palestine and
Egypt following an agreement in 1906 between the Ottoman Empire
– which controlled Palestine then – and Britain, which
controlled Egypt, never was the border subject to such deadly
political calculations. In fact, between 1948 and 1967, when
Gaza was under Egyptian control, the border was virtually
non-existent as the Strip was administered as if a part of
Egypt.</p>
<p>Although Gazans are still being referred to as ‘brothers’,
there is nothing brotherly in the way they are being treated.
25,000 humanitarian cases are languishing in Gaza, waiting to be
allowed access to treatment in Egypt or in other Arab and
European countries. These ill Palestinians should not be used as
political fodder in a turf war which is not of their making.</p>
<p>Moreover, while countries have the right to protect their
sovereignty and security, they are obligated by international
law not to collectively punish other nations, no matter the
logic or the political context.</p>
<p>An agreement must be reached between the Government in Gaza and
Egypt, with the help of regional powers and under the monitoring
of the United Nations, to end Gaza’s perpetual suffering and
open the border, once and for all.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="author_description"> <em><strong>Dr. Ramzy Baroud</strong>
has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He
is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media
consultant, an author of several books and the founder of
PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a
Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London).
His website is: ramzybaroud.net</em> </p>
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