The siege continues

As the dialogue between Palestinian factions takes place in Cairo I sit in the same city waiting for an opportunity to reach Gaza.

After a second trip to Rafah, joined by American activists and armed with a letter from the Canadian embassy I was still denied crossing to Gaza, by the Egyptian authorities.
The letter (actually I was forced to obtain two letters) the Canadian embassy gave me was a disappointment for which they charged me L.E. 520 (approx $130 Cdn.) . They were not really letters from the Canadian embassy to the Egyptian authorities but rather declarations by me stating that I absolve the Canada from all responsibility, which I signed then the embassy stamped! (see http://picasaweb.google.com/lotayef/EmbassyLetters#)

During the day (Tuesday) I spent at the Rafah border crossing there was more action than last time (Thursday and Friday of last week). They were allowing Palestinians to cross to Gaza, but no one else.

Other than the Palestinians at the Rafah border crossing there were a handful of internationals: activists, film makers and independent journalists, who were trying to go through. We, internationals, were Americans, Norwegians, British, a Bosnians and a Canadian. Most of us had some sort of support from our embassies. The Norwegian film makers were confident there clearance – coordinated between their embassy the Egyptian state security – would get them through. But alas, the clearance letter was not communicated to the authorities at the crossing and they had to go back to al-Arish at the end of the day with the rest of us. . (see http://picasaweb.google.com/lotayef/RafahBorderCrossing20090224#)

On our way back to al-Arish we drove into the town of Rafah, the border town that is split in two, a larger part is in Gaza and a smaller part is in Egypt. Rafah gained international fame as the site of the smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. With Israel and Egypt’s siege it would have been difficult to imagine Gaza surviving without these tunnels and with. The smuggling of arms is not the main reason for the existence to these tunnels. They are a basic lifeline for the people of Gaza. All supplies, from gasoline to livestock pass through the tunnels and the price of merchandise increases tenfold as they pass from the Egyptian side to the Palestinian side. A very lucrative industry that is difficult to combat or crush even by turning Rafah into a military occupied zone (see http://picasaweb.google.com/lotayef/SecurityInTheEgyptianTownOfRafah#)

The only effective way to combat this smuggling industry is by opening legal trade routs, something the Israelis oppose so they can continue exerting pressure on the Palestinian population till Hamas accepts whatever conditions they want to impose.