Egypt Gaza Border Reopened Permanently

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

Egypt Gaza Border Reopened Permanently


RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Egypt lifted a four-year-old blockade on the Gaza Strip's main link to the outside world Saturday, bringing relief to the crowded territory's 1.5 million Palestinians but deepening a rift with Israel since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.

The Egyptian move will allow thousands of Gazans to move freely in and out of the area – heightening Israeli fears that militants and weapons could easily reach its doorstep.

Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after the Islamic militant Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007. The closure, which also included tight Israeli restrictions at its cargo crossings with Gaza and a naval blockade, was meant to weaken Hamas, but it also fueled an economic crisis in the densely populated territory.

Hundreds of Gazans gathered early Saturday as the first bus load of passengers crossed the border at 9 a.m. Two Egyptian officers stood guard next to a large Egyptian flag atop the border gate as the vehicle rumbled through.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/28/egypt-gaza-border-reopened_n_868390.html

[DCBob]

1. A positive consequence of the uprising in Eqypt,

Good for the Palenstinians. Hope more like this to follow despite the objections from Israel.

[CJvR]

2. Yesss...

...provided the war doesn't heat up again.

[sharesunited]

3. May there be a great migration into Egypt and peace in the ME. But alas.

[DCBob]

4. its not about migrating.. its about having access to jobs, services, education, medical, etc..

The Palestinians have been effectively locked into their tiny space allotted them by Israel. Its rediculous.

[sharesunited]

6. Isn't it also about the flow of armaments intended to be used against Israel?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Gaza_barrier

[DCBob]

8. one would expect the border guards to not allow missles, tanks, RPG's etc.

[CJvR]

25. Since...

...they were not entirely successful in stopping that when the border was closed the odds of them managing to do a better job once it is opened is hardly better.

[DCBob]

26. open or closed, the issue of smuggling stuff remains the same.

so there is no point to penalize the innocent who just want to buy goods and access services across the border.

[crikkett]

11. That's what Israel wants us to think. I think it's about milk and gasoline.

[aquart]

13. Yes. Israel is controlling your mind.

They do it with magic Hebrew.

[crikkett]

28. Not my mind.

Nice personal attack, however.

[Violet_Crumble]

23. You want Gazans to migrate to Egypt? Why? What about what they want? n/t

[canuckledragger]

5. I expect more pre-emptive strikes from Israel

with the same old reasoning bush used for Iraq:

"b-b-b-but..they were going to do it to us!"

[aquart]

12. You're right. The Palestinians have never fired missiles into Israel.

And it doesn't matter if they did. The Israelis deserve it. Anything the Palestinians do to kill Israelis is good and pure and great. Anything Israel does is evil.

But nobody at DU is anti-Semitic. Only anti-Zionists. Jews don't deserve to live in their homeland. Only Arabs deserve to live in the Jewish homeland. And Arabia. And Egypt. And Iraq. And Syria. And Jordan. And Dubai. And... THE MIDDLE EAST BELONGS TO THE ARABS!

[canuckledragger]

17. no-one is saying the Palestinians haven't done some nasty things either

But what do you expect in a multi-generational war? hate breeds hate, war breeds war.

I'm reminded of the recent 'pre-emptive strike' that used white phosphorus munitions to supposedly 'mark targets'

(see http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-admits-using-phosphorus-bombs-during-war-in-lebanon-1.203078

here's an article about the recent conflict:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/16/phosphorus-bombs-video-israel-gaza

also from the article:

'At the centre of the controversy is the way white phosphorus air burst shells have been used in heavily built-up urban areas, with an overwhelmingly civilian population.'

& this isn't asking for more trouble?

I'm not anti-jew or anti-zionist..but here's a parable:

Let's say I was promised a house a few hundred years back (nevermind there's nothing to back up my claim), got into an arguement was forced to leave the property & never return. The house is then occupied by someone else & they & their descendants stay there for a few more generations. My descendants find that house again & with the help of some overpowered buddies force the existing tenats into a tiny room out back, arm us to the teeth & cut them off from the rest of the house.

I have some neighbors that don't care either way but don't want anyone on their damn lawn & threaten to shoot anyone that crosses their property. The old tenants get a little pissed thinking.."Who the hell do these guys think they are? This is our property, we put all the work into fixing it up, do they think they can push us around & get away with this?" & they fight try to take back what they put all their hard work into & get pushed into an even smaller space with the new owners telling them "you're lucky we let you stay here at all..after all we were promised this house & you have no right to be here anyway..."

& round & round it goes..

Right or wrong this my take on the situation...but over the years I've seen a lot more nasty, vindictive bullyish behaviour coming out of Israel..& they don't seem to want to share with anyone.

[canuckledragger]

18. & no doubt there's someone else out there smiling & getting rich

playing both sides against each other, getting rich selling weapons to both sides.

[pettypace]

19. It's DU

We are more diplomatic here. We don't have to side with Israel on every single issue like the 100 senators and 435 congressman in Congress.

And if you want a scorecard it's wildly in favor of your country anyway. The Arabs have nothing on Israel.

[Forkboy]

20. You come across the same way, just on the opposite side of the coin.

[Violet_Crumble]

24. +1000 n/t

[pampango]

7. Aljazeera: Egypt opens Rafah border with Gaza (Better open border than closed)

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/05/201152872159493180.html

Palestinians welcome easing of four-year blockade on coastal enclave, in a move ushered in by Egypt's new leaders.

Egypt has reopened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, allowing the coastal territory's Palestinian residents to cross freely for the first time in four years - a sharp departure from the policies of Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president.

The opening on Saturday morning provided long-awaited relief for Palestinians. The move was ushered in by Egypt's new government in a bid to ease the suffering of the territory's residents.

Commercial traffic will continue to have to pass through border points with Israel to enter Gaza. "In the future, Hamas says that it would like this to become a terminal for goods," Al Jazeera's Johnston said.

"But a lot of people in Gaza say that if the Rafah border crossing becomes a commercial goods terminal, then Israel could place all responsibility for Gaza on the Egyptians, which people do not want because Gaza is still occupied by Israel."

[Exultant Democracy]

9. A people should not be caged, this is a step in the right direction.

[aquart]

14. Egypt always had the power to open the gate.

And nobody forced them to take the money for selling natural gas to Israel.

Just hope they don't do what they did the last time the Palestinians got into Egypt: sold them trash for twice the price.

[bemildred]

10. It's all Bibi's fault.

:-)

[babydollhead]

15. May peace prevail on earth.

May this opening bring in the fresh and new

[Odin2005]

16. Will the crazies in Israel bomb Egypt in retaliation?

[Forkboy]

21. Israel does gave some valid concerns on this, but I think the good outweighs the risk.

[Turborama]

22. The Guardian: Hundreds of Palestinians cross reopened Gaza-Egypt border

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem | Saturday May 28 2011 21.54 BST


A Palestinian boy holds his father's passport at Egypt's Rafah crossing
yesterday. Photograph: Amr Nabil/AP

Egypt has opened its border with Gaza, letting Palestinians leave the blockaded territory, in a move seen as indicating a more supportive policy since February's revolution.

Hundreds of people laden with luggage gathered at the Rafah crossing in the south of Gaza before the border opened at 9am. Around 300 crossed in the first hours and officials said they expected up to 1,000 to leave Gaza by the end of the day. Women, children and men over the age of 40 will be permitted free travel from Gaza to Egypt, but men under 40 will be required to apply for and be granted a visa. A large proportion of Gaza's 1.5 million population is aged between 18 and 40.

The crossing will open for eight hours a day, six days a week. In the four years since Hamas took control of Gaza, 18 months after winning elections, and Israel imposed a stringent blockade, the Rafah border has opened intermittently and only students, businessmen and people needing medical treatment have been allowed through.

All other border crossings are with Israel, which has tightly controlled the movement of people and goods. Despite easing the blockade almost a year ago, Israel continues to proscribe certain goods, such as construction materials, from entering Gaza and blocks nearly all exports. Rafah will not be open to commercial traffic.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/28/egypt-gaza-border-reopened-palestinians

[underpants]

27. So Obama didn't have to do a staged "TEAR DOWN THIS WALL" speech?

we really have come a long way