Beyond bearable
Palestinians flood to Rafah crossing in a bid to escape the hell
that is life in the Gaza Strip, writes Erica Silverman
Scores of buses overflowing with passengers, so tightly
packed that bodies are pressed against glass windows, approached the gates
of Rafah Terminal along the Gaza-Egypt border Saturday in a desperate bid
to exit the Gaza Strip. Luggage and people piled high on top and on trailers
dragging behind, some precariously balancing themselves even on metal hitches
in between.
Mohamed, 17, clung to the side of one bus by his arms,
trying to make his way into Egypt for medical care. One mother grasped
the side of a trailer with one arm and her crying little girl with the
other as suitcases were rapidly hurled on top of them.
Buses pushed on -- some carrying as many as 200 people,
tires flattened from the weight -- towards lines of preventative security
forces trying to control the chaos. Over 7,000 passengers swarmed the terminal
frantically trying to escape, but only 2,396 passengers departed and 341
returned, according to EU monitors stationed there. Students, medical patients,
and foreign visa holders were permitted to leave. An estimated 30,000 are
still waiting to depart, and as of Tuesday the border remained sealed.
"They deal with us like animals," cried 37- year-old
Riad Syiam, an electrical engineer trying to reach Abu Dhabi with his wife
and three children. Like hundreds of families they came to Gaza to visit
relatives and were trapped inside when Israel sealed the border after an
Israeli soldier was captured by Hamas 25 June. Rafah (Gaza's only passenger
crossing) has been closed by Israel for seven weeks, ostensibly to prevent
the soldier from being smuggled outside the Strip as well as to cut off
large amounts of cash Hamas leaders have been bringing across the border.
Palestinian officials and EU monitors are working to
convince Israel to resume normal operation of the terminal, although according
to Salim Abu Saifa, Palestinian Authority (PA) director of border security
in Gaza and a chief negotiator with the Israeli side, there is no agreement
in sight. Abu Saifa predicts erratic openings until the release of the
Israeli soldier.
Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin told ministers at the weekly
Israeli cabinet meeting Sunday that the Philadelphi Route along the Egyptian
border is porous, allowing several tonnes of explosives and weapons to
enter Gaza. "Recently, $1.5 million has been smuggled in through Rafah
by the Hamas Agriculture Ministry," said Diskin. The intelligence chief
charges that Egyptian supervision of the crossing is ineffective, calling
for a review of the agreements signed with Egypt last year.
The Palestinian side securely operated the terminal for
eight months, says Abu Saifa, asserting, "the crossing is used [by Israel]
for collective punishment and other political gains." President Mahmoud
Abbas's office controls the crossings, not the Hamas-led government, in
a vain effort to keep them open. On 10 and 11 August, Rafah opened one-way,
allowing 4,200 passengers to leave Gaza, according to the EU observer mission.
Meanwhile Karni -- Gaza's only commercial crossing --
has been sealed shut for four days, as of Monday, creating a shortage of
basic commodities and food supplies across Gaza.
Fear and hostility amongst Gazans is brimming over into
violent protests throughout Gaza City, as most Palestinians have not received
a paycheque in nearly six months. PA employees stormed into banks Saturday
morning demanding salaries and on Sunday angry mobs attacked the Legislative
Council building. These outbursts come amid a recent string of auto thefts
uncommon in the religiously conservative Strip. Palestinians are surviving
under the intense pressure of a nearly nine-week-long Israeli incursion
into Gaza to purportedly halt the launching of Qassam rockets into Israel
and to recover the captured Israeli soldier.
On Saturday 170,000 PA employees received 1,500 shekels,
half their monthly salary, from local banks. Funds were transferred directly
from the Arab League and select Arab and non-Arab donor nations to the
President's Office -- the fruits of Abbas's recent tour soliciting aid.
Healthcare sector employees received their salaries directly from the EU,
the first channel of the Temporary International Aid Mechanism that has
reached Palestinians, presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh told
Al-Ahram Weekly.
When PA employees discovered the payment amounted to
only half their usual salaries -- and even less for those with outstanding
loans in their accounts -- enraged crowds attempted to seize Gaza banks
as frightened employees went into hiding. "My wife is expecting and my
daughter is sick, I can't make ends meet," said Ossam Akhouli standing
outside the Arab Bank to withdraw his salary. Abbas's presidential force
and police deployed to secure the banks, as heated protesters tried to
enter.
"The problem is the bank, they owe us our salaries --
this bank is against the Hamas government," shouted 20-year-old Baha Al-Buttish
outside Jordan Bank, a member of the presidential security forces. After
waiting for two hours under a scorching sun Al-Buttish walked away empty-handed.
"People are under pressure, but they know for sure the
Israeli occupation along with the international embargo are responsible
for this," Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zhouri told the Weekly, asserting
that Hamas's popularity has increased since 25 June.
Meanwhile, unknown Palestinian militants kidnapped two
Fox News crew -- cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, and American
reporter Steve Centanni, 60 -- 14 August in Gaza City. Four militants emerged
from a Magnum Jeep, threw the driver of Wiig and Centanni on the ground
and swiftly snatched the two journalists from their TV van, recounted witnesses.
The journalists are being held by Mumtaz Doghmush, commander of the Salaheddin
Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, as a bargaining
chip to put pressure on the Israelis to stop shelling houses and halt incursions
into the Strip, according to a senior Palestinian intelligence official
speaking off record. Hamas knows the location of the journalists, the official
said.
Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, a freelance journalist,
made emotional pleas for her husband's release in a televised appeal Friday.
It is the first time Palestinian kidnappers have not identified themselves
or their demands. Waves of kidnappings, commencing last summer, went largely
unpunished under Fatah as the kidnappers' demands were promptly met, arguably
encouraging further incidents. "It is a reprehensible act on the part of
any faction, and it serves the Israeli occupation," said Abu Zhouri.
Hamas, elected into office on a campaign promise to restore
law and order in Gaza, asserts the perpetrators will be punished. The Fatah
bloc of the Palestinian Legislative Council affirmed the Palestinian people
have suffered as a result of the kidnappings, which have even further discouraged
foreign investment coupled with the inability of exports to leave the Strip.
Until now, Israel's offensive in Gaza has been overshadowed
by its war on Lebanon, leaving Gaza's population in a media blind spot
and even more vulnerable to Israeli terrorism. Israeli forces have destroyed
three major bridges, along with roads, crops, and infrastructure crushed
by rolling Israeli tanks. Gaza's main power station was destroyed 28 June,
leaving households, businesses and hospitals across the Strip without electricity
and water in the sweltering heat of summer while sanitation systems also
collapsed.
Israeli forces have killed over 200 Palestinians, with
over 1,000 injured, since 25 June.
(Source: Al Ahram Weekly, 24 - 30 August 2006, Issue No. 809 )
© by Erica Silverman and/or Al Ahram
Reproduced as a link only. This is not a part of the special July War
issue of
Urban Democracy
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