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Egypt's Gaza gateway: crossroad of frustration
The border crossing is one of five ways in and out of Gaza. But it has been open just 64 days in the past nine months.
By Jill Carroll | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the May 2, 2007 edition
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Rafah, Egypt - It's 2 a.m. in Cairo, and Abu Khalid is wedged into the back row of a minibus packed with 14 other people and their luggage.
Yet he couldn't be happier.
He's finally going to attend his brother's wedding Thursday night in Gaza, the Palestinian territory bordering Egypt.
Every night for almost a week, Abu Khalid, a cameraman from Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, who asked that his real name not be used, has waited until midnight to find out if the Rafah border crossing would be open the next morning.
Finally, late Wednesday, a call came from friends on the Gaza side. He hopped into the minibus in the dead of night for the five-hour drive to the border.
The Rafah border crossing is one of five ways in and out of Gaza – and a portrait of frustration for many Palestinians trying to get home. It's the only crossing not guarded by Israeli forces. But it has been open just 64 days in the past nine months. Palestinian and Israeli leaders recently began biweekly talks on lower-level issues, including Palestinian arms smuggling into Gaza from Rafah, a town that straddles the border. The US hopes these will lead to discussion of substantive issues like the formation of a Palestinian state.
For Egypt, policing the Rafah crossing is a delicate issue. There is "genuine concern" that Palestinian violence in Gaza could spill over into the Sinai, says Walid Kazziha, chair of the political science department at the American University in Cairo. "It is in Egypt's national interest that they have to look after" the smuggling issue. But he also notes that the Egyptian government faces domestic pressure to support Palestinians. "One thing that embarrasses the Egyptians is the Israelis asking Egypt to take [what would amount to] violence against the Palestinians," he says. "So it's a very tight rope."
The smuggling dispute taxes most those who are trying to cross the border legitimately, like Abu Khalid.
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