RAFAH CROSSING : With Hosni Mubarak regime gone Hundreds of Palestinians headed to this desert border crossing Saturday morning to be the first to enter Egypt under newly eased restrictions for residents of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt announced that it would open the Rafah crossing after the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation accord in Cairo early this month. The border opening had been offered as an inducement to Hamas to sign the pact.
Some described the permanent opening of the gateway after four years of strict restrictions as the first step in regaining their dignity.
“I’m so happy,” said a beaming Hashna el-Reyes, 45, who intended to fly to London on Sunday to visit her son. “Before, I felt very disappointed. There was no humanity. Now somehow I feel human.”
The numbers were not overwhelming, and the atmosphere was subdued. There was no ceremony to mark the milestone. There were enough seats in the waiting area at customs for those present, and some bag handlers sat waiting for work.
Egypt’s military rulers announced earlier this week that they would permanently open the crossing, the main gateway to the outside world for the 1.6 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Hosni Mubarak regime, on insistence of Israel has blocked the border with Gaza Since the Hamas was elected legitimately by Palestinian people in Gaza Strip in 2007, making a mass jail in world with no opening to free world. Until now, only special cases of medical treatment with special permission were allowed to cross the border.
The Hosni Mubarak government had kept the border closed or tightly controlled since Hamas took over Gaza, bowing to American and Israeli concerns to keep under pressure Hamas and to punish Palestinian to not vote again to Hamas. Israel always accuse Gaza people could smuggle weapons into the coastal enclave and fears of a spillover of militant activity into Egypt.
Since president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February after an 18-day uprising, many Egyptians have rallied to the Palestinian cause, a factor likely to have weighed heavily on Egypt’s interim military leaders, who have been trying to appease a rancorous and newly empowered public.
Many of those traveling Saturday were in wheelchairs. Some, like Musbah Mohamed Halawen, 59, said the reopening could mean the difference between life and death for critically ill Palestinians.
The opening of the border eases the blockade Israel has imposed on the strip since June 2007.
The opening of the crossing will include longer operating hours, remove limits on the number of people crossing daily and allow visa-free travel for Palestinians, except for men ages 18 to 40. It will not include the passage of goods, which currently pass only through Israeli-controlled crossings with Gaza, where they are subject to restrictions and a near-total ban on exports.
Some Israeli officials have voiced concern about the opening, saying Hamas could use it to smuggle in rockets and other weapons that are currently brought into the strip through a network of tunnels.
Amos Gilad, a top Defense Ministry official, told Israel Radio that Rafah “must not serve as an official crossing between Hamas and Egypt. . . . Hamastan in Gaza is a terrorist entity.”
