Closing Gaza's Already Closed Checkpoints

[Violet_Crumble]

Israel's announcement that it is closing the three checkpoints around the Gaza Strip in the wake of last Thursday's terror attack at the Karni crossing has created the impression that all the crossings have been open recently. This, however, is not the case.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt - the only link that some 1,300,000 Gaza residents have with a foreign country - has been closed for more than a month. It was closed on December 13, in reaction to the Palestinian attack on an Israel Defense Forces base in the area. Thousands of Palestinians who were abroad at the time are stuck either at the crossing itself, in poor sanitary conditions, or in hostels and hotels in Egypt, which these "involuntary tourists" are paying for with their own dwindling funds. At the same time, a similar number of Gazans are prevented from leaving the Strip.

Under Israeli directives, Gaza residents have been banned for years - starting before October 2000 - from returning from abroad via the Allenby Bridge, Ben-Gurion International Airport or the Erez crossing. In the last month, Israel has allowed some Gazans to return via Erez, but only those who have appropriate connections in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority, as well as United Nations workers.

In the middle of last week, Israel allowed a small number of workers and merchants to use the Erez crossing to leave Gaza, for the first time in six months. Before then, people could only use that exit if they were sick, diplomats, relatives of Palestinians jailed in Israel, Palestinian VIPs, foreign visitors and Palestinians who are citizens or residents of Israel and have family in Gaza.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=7103