This just in from the Guardian.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians today poured into Egypt from Gaza after militants blew up part of the wall between the two territories in protest at an Israeli blockade.On foot, in cars or riding donkey carts, Gazans burst into the Egyptian border town of Rafah to buy cigarettes, plastic bottles of fuel and other supplies that have become scarce and expensive after months of economic isolation.
“I have bought everything I need for the house for months. I have bought food, cigarettes and even two gallons of diesel for my car,” Mohammed Saeed told Reuters.
Many of the Palestinians, some travelling from the northern Gaza Strip, found transport towards the Egyptian coastal town of El Arish, about 40km away.
Others stayed on the Egyptian side of Rafah and clamoured to buy merchandise that has been in short supply in Gaza, even going as afar as emptying some shops.
Hamas, which has controlled the narrow coastal strip since last June, did not take responsibility for knocking the border wall down, but its militants quickly took control as Egyptian border guards stood aside.
Hamas police funnelled the crowds through two sections of the border and inspected bags, confiscating seven pistols carried by one man returning to Gaza.
Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the border wall running through Rafah at dawn. There were 17 explosions in all, Hamas security officials said. About two-thirds of the 12km wall was demolished, at one point with the help of a bulldozer.
Hamas expressed support for the move, saying: “Blowing up the border wall with Egypt is a reflection of the … catastrophic situation which the Palestinian people in Gaza are living through due to the blockade.”
Israel expressed its concern at the latest developments and called on Egypt to restore order. “Israel has no forces in Gaza or Egypt, and the Egyptians control the border, and therefore it is the responsibility of Egypt to ensure that the border operates properly according to the signed agreements,” said Arye Mekel, a spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry.
“We expect the Egyptians to solve the problem. Obviously we are worried about the situation. It could potentially allow anybody to enter.”
Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, said he had told his men to allow Palestinians into Egypt to buy food before escorting them out.
“I told them to let them come in and eat and buy food and then return them later as long as they were not carrying weapons,” he told reporters at the Cairo book fair.
Last week Israel tightened its economic blockade on Gaza in response to an increase in rocket attacks from Palestinian militants. Egypt tacitly supported the Israeli decision by keeping its border with Gaza closed.
In response to international warnings of a humanitarian crisis, Israel yesterday allowed one-off shipments of fuel and cooking oil into Gaza. However, Gazans still face critical shortages of electricity, fuel and other supplies.
The territory has been largely cut off from the world since June, when Hamas seized power in Gaza by force from its Fatah rivals led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Egypt has largely kept its border with Gaza closed amid concerns of a spillover of Hamas-style militancy into Egypt.
Gaza’s Hamas rulers have orchestrated daily demonstrations on the Gaza-Egypt border, in an apparent attempt to appeal to Arabs to put pressure on Egypt to open its border.
This isn’t over, of course; this doesn’t change the overwhelming military superiority of Israel, and the craven nature of the Arab despots. We can expect the raids and the sonic booms to continue, and there’s nothing to say the Gazans won’t be quickly penned in again by the authorities; at any rate, a few tens of thousands of shopping trips aren’t enough to relieve the poverty of several million. But there aren’t many more joyous sights than a wall being torn down; the seige has been lifted by Palestinian people power.
What happens next probably depends on Egypt. The dictator Hosni Mubarak is a staunch ally of the U.S. and Israel, but Hamas’ sister organisation the Muslim Brotherhood has been providing parliamentary opposition and - of less interest to the Western media but of much more interest to us - the country has been the scene of increasingly massive, and often quite political, strikes.
This is probably a good time to introduce the blog of Hossam el-Hamalawy in Egypt, where you’ll find coverage of the latest developments in Rafah as well as background on the Egyptian working class movement.
Solidarity!
Update
(both photos are from AFP, via AOL news)
Although there had been some violent clashes between protestors and Egyptian riot police, and in spite of Mubarak’s usual cooperation with Israel (without which the seige could not have happened), the border is to stay open. It seems like a euphoric - even an historic - moment.
Meanwhile, the UN already estimates that 350,000 Gazans have now been into Egypt - that’s about a tenth of the strip’s population - and for many it’s the first time in their lives that they’ve been out of the prison-territory. The US is, inevitably, “expressing concern“, and well they might; imagine what this will do for Palestinian morale, imagine what it will do for the Egyptian left. There’s still time for a crackdown, though, and this is a crucial moment for us to show some solidarity. I reiterate my invitation to demonstrate in front of Parliament on Saturday.
Well done. I’m glad to see the Palestinian people who are an ingeniuous people taking their very suvival into their own hands. Israeli’s have long held Palestinians with contempt and at every turn, bled them dry financially. There is much more to these rocket attacks and the hostility than most Americans know.
Imagine, the Palestinians are being able to buy commodities that they desperately need to feed their families at a fraction of what they normally pay - to Israeli’s.
Now, if only they would be able to get the equipment and the tools needed to repair their sewage treatment plants and their own electrical grid.
Israel, the days of bullying and underhanded tricks and murder are slowly ebbing away. Well done President Mubarak. Thank you.
Good riddance. Let them be Egypt’s problem…but let’s be honest, if Egypt really cared about “humanitarianism,” they wouldn’t have left the Palestinians to rot in the refugee camps for FORTY YEARS after promising to destroy Israel for them and then failing to follow through. If Arab countries really care about the Palestinians, WHY WON’T THEY OPEN THEIR BORDERS TO THEM?
You’re right, Jocelyn, except what is there to congratulate Mubarak for? He cooperated with the Israelis all along in implementing the seige - he just doesn’t have the political capital to clamp down on the Palestinians now that the floodgates are open.
Anyway, there have been clashes with Egyptian police, but the border is staying open for the time being.
There are some lovely photos of the wall coming down on this page. And, wierdly, looking at the stats shows a number of mainstream media sources have been linking back to my post; it’s wierd because this has never happened before, and because all I did in this case was link to a mainstream media report anyway.
This other Dave is right about the Arab leadership not caring about the Palestinians, but that’s not exactly news. But the offensive tone of his comment does raise another issue - how will Israel react? It’s a crucial time for us to show some solidarity, and I reiterate my invitation to demonstrate in front of Parliament.
What nonsense, Jocelyn. The only ingenuity ever displayed by the “Palestinian” people (a misnomer for Arabs who emigrated to Israel during the past 150 years) is in inventing new ways to murder Jews, Christians, and their Muslim brethren.
There has never been an issue of “Palestinian” survival. Israel has provided for the needs of these Arab parasites (whom no one in the Arab world wants in their country) for many years. When Egypt had sovereignty over the Gaza Strip (from 1949-1967), the Arab population living there had the lowest standard of living in the Muslim world.
Within a few years after Israel liberated Gaza from the Egyptian occupiers, Gazan Arabs soon enjoyed the highest standard of living in the Arab world. The same applied before-and-after situation applied to the Arabs living in the west bank.
After administrative control was given to Arafat as a result of the grossly misnamed “peace process”, the “Palestinian” standard of living reverted to what you see today. Hamas has made things even worse since they have taken control of Gaza.
It is ludicrous to blame Israel, who continues to provide employment and economic assistance to these people, despite their continuing and escalating terrorist warfare against Israel. The fault lies in their Arab leadership, and their own unwillingness to live in peace with their Jewish neighbors (or their Arab neighbors for that matter).
Their never was a “humanitarian crisis” or a fuel shortage. Despite years of escalating rocket attacks its civilian population, Israel continues to supply Gaza with electricity, fuel, medicines, and other supplies at cheaper prices than are available to Israelis, and MUCH cheaper prices than charged by their profiteering Arab brethren.
Hamas created the fabricated shortage, and resultant panic — just as Hamas and its predecessors created and propagate the continuing warfare.
Imagine if Mexicans were bombarding the U.S. with rockets over the border, or if the Flemish were bombarding Brussels, or if any Arab group were bombarding Egypt or any Arab country. The response would be quick and deadly. There would be no concern about civilian casualties (especially from the point of origin of rocket fire). There would be no tears over whether the terrorist population had enough fuel to transport their weapons, or electricity to assemble their bombs, or medical supplies to put their genocidal soldiers back in action.
Bullying and underhanded tricks? Israel has been making unilateral concessions for 60 years, concessions which have had disastrous effects on Israelis. The Arabs have never kept one condition of any of the agreements they have signed. Yet Israel has continued to bargain in good faith and keep its part of their various commitments.
If the goal is peace, the Arabs should lay down their arms. There would be peace immediately. Conversely, if the Israelis were to lay down their arms, they would be slaughtered by peace-loving Arabs. The next move has to come from the Arabs. Or they have to accept the consequences for their continued terrorist warfare.
I can see the way things are going with the comments; people are coming in from the various links in the MSM to spread hateful flak like the long comment above by negodki, which seems to have managed at least one racist lie per paragraph.
So, you made me do it; I’m gonna have to start moderating.
My mum says there’s been nothing about any of this on News 24.
Does “hateful” apply to Jocelyn’s comments about how the average Israeli wants to bleed every Palestinian dry and that they’re a country of murderers? Or only people that aren’t telling you what you want to hear?
There’s another Dave!!!!
Yep the attention now needs to be on halting a counter movement to reseal the border as Egypt knuckles under to the US. I get the impression the Egyptians at the border are happy with the customers and the police are wise enough not to stand in the way of simple human freedom. But Welch is already on the case, I hope we do not get to scenes of Egyptian riot police and army pushing them back and the border resealed. Let’s hope this Great Escape has a better ending.
@RickB: Believe it or not, there are several! The thing with this is, I don’t see a quiet clampdown being possible. There will either be none, or there will be a spectacularly bloody one. Were this happening in Lebanon I’m sure your man Welch would have some of the latter in the making as we speak, but in Egypt I think it would take all the machinery of state repression. It’s up to all of us - especially the Egyptian workers - to say no to that before it happens.
@the other Dave: No, partly because that’s not what she said, and partly because what she did say was pretty much true. Whereas negodki’s comment was an absolute pack of lies, such as the classic “the “Palestinian” people (a misnomer for Arabs who emigrated to Israel during the past 150 years)“, which is possibly our generation’s equivalent of the the Protocols of Zion. Racist lies, like I say.
On the one hand, it’s good to see that the ordinary Palestinian will be able to get access to affordable food and such at least for a while; on the other, it’s going to make it even easier for weapons to get into the place and continue the endless cycle of tit for tat killings that’s been driving the place deeper and deeper into the shit for donkey’s years now. Maybe I’m being too pessimistic but I don’t think this is going to improve anyone’s lot in the long-run.
BRAVO! So glad someone(Egypt)is paying attention to the suffering caused by the illegitimate state of “Israel”. As a historian I have always known the secret that has been kept from the American people. ISRAEL WAS FOUNDED ON TERROR!!!
I have never seen a high school or college text that mentions the Irgun or the Stern gangs with more than a cursory glance.
It was these two terror organizations that ethnically cleansed neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Bombed the King David Hotel (1946), killing 91 people, including 17 Jews.
When are we going to wake up. The Jews have a homelenad. It is the USA! There are more Jews here than in the state of “Israel”.
Lets dump this ridiculous idea of a theocratic state and welcome them home.
@Hank:
Israel was certainly founded on terror and ethnic cleansing, but if we should take anything from that it’s the fact that the logic of designating certain places as the “homelands” of certain “races” leads to, well, this. Jews should be able to live where they want, and so should Palestinians.
Also, I reiterate, the Egyptian authorities have done nothing to help the Palestinians. They are only keeping the borders open now because events on the ground have left them with no choice. Hosni Mubarak is not on our side.
@Michael:
It’s not tit-for-tat, it’s occupation. This conflict is often talked about in the media as if it’s some massively complicated mess, but it’s very very simple and very very one sided. Israel is founded on the idea of making a state for Jews on top of the Palestinians’ homes, and making this idea a reality has involved the systematic destruction of Palestinian society: ethnic cleansing, apartheid and terror.
I recommend the film Occupation 101.
Trying to think ahead, I wonder how the Egyptian regime is going to make sure that no Palestinians stay behind after their day of shopping. Reaching as far as Arish in Northern Sinai, I would not be amazed if my government detains the city to check everybody. We did round up whole streets after the Taba bombings in 2004.
Egyptian activists are organizing a caravan that should be leaving anytime now. Amazing as it is, we are still to see the workers movement linking their immediate demands to regime change, much less to what’s going on in Gaza. However, the little we have seen in the past two years is nothing less than impressive.
well done
Really, Amr? That’s interesting. But I’d be surprised if they detained a whole city now, surely most of the Palestinians will go back of their own accord (unless Israel has ideas of its own on that score) and those that stay can be rounded up in good time?
It’s not surprising that the workers’ movement hasn’t started with regime change. I think all this is making it harder for them to ignore the Palestinians though, and it should be a morale boost too, although what they’ll end up making of this I have literally no idea.
Most news stories have included quotes from people gushing about the taste of freedom and other joyful outbursts. So what was the one quote that the BBC used to publicise this story?
Bet they didn’t say that about the Berlin wall! If this demo in Cairo is anything to go by, most Egyptians don’t feel this way. However, with the government under pressure to clamp down again the question of Egyptian public feeling and mobilisation is going to be crucial.
Well, today’s demonstration turnout was about two dozen people: quite expected without the Mulsim Brotherhood’s support. What I find interesting is how the students and larger public, moved historically with regional issues, especially Palestine, made their first chants against Mubarak’s regime while protesting to support the 2000 intifada, and the same happened again with the invasion of Iraq. Those past seven years of building a democratization movement are slowly connecting with a simultaneous seven-year workers activism.
Having said that, we are still clueless about what to do with Palestine other than sending supplies. If there is any group-awareness in Egypt, I think it is ‘first we take Cairo, then we take Tel Aviv’
Getting supplies in is a good start, there’s the practical to think about as well as the political. Also in terms of building a movement, it can’t hurt to get more Egyptians in closer contact with the people of Gaza.
Do you know anything about the protest I linked to above, at the Lawyers’ Syndicate? That looked like at least 1000 people, which is still small but not ludicrously so. And the Brotherhood have been involved in at least one 4-figure demo, in front of the Arab League HQ where a load of them ended up getting arrested.
Amr, most of the Egyptian leftist blogs I come across are, unsurprisingly, written in Arabic. Can you recommend any sites in English or French where I could learn more about the Egyptian workers’ movements?
The statement you referred to is exaggerating. I’d be happy if the number of protesters was ‘over 2,000′. The detainees are a few hundred, mostly Brotherhood. The Brotherhood’s own estimation is 800.
Hamalawy is the best source you can find for information about Egypt’s workers in any language. While he keeps a stream of news–and artwork and other SWP rhetoric–Baheyya will write the most insightful commentary every now and then.
Thanks for that. I already read Hamalawy’s blog from time to time, I’ll check out Baheyya and her blogroll too.
The FT’s editorial on the subject is useful, if not particularly illuminating. The FT is written for the business elite, which can mean a refreshing lack of bullshit compared to more “popular” (or, God help us, “liberal”
papers. When talking to skeptics, it can only be good to be able to point at a respected mainstream publication with politics opposite to ours that says things like:
Emphasis added. It’s not perfect, but it’s miles better than the beeb or the average Guardian editorial, never mind the Tory press.
Egypt even having a fortified border/fence proves that they don’t want the palis….no one does!
Or, to put it another way, one totalitarian regime is collaborating - or was collaborating - in the genocidal plots of the regime next door for the sake of a quiet life. Which tells us what, exactly? That dictatorships suck?
Busy here Dave.
Can’t believe this hasn’t happened before with the smashing of the Egyptian wall of shame. It is only right that the people of Gaza pop over to Egypt for some shopping. Surely the Israelis and Americans understand a little enterprise. The more they try to keep a lid on the concentration camp that is Gaza, the bigger the problem will be when it blows back in their face.
Let there be peace brothers. Let there be peace. Or forever be damned.
The Heathlander’s post on the jailbreak is excellent and pretty comprehensive:
http://heathlander.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/breaking-free-from-annapolis/
What do you think of this samsonblinded.org/blog/israel-cannot-blockade-gaza.htm ? Shoher is arguably the most right Israeli today, but he argues Israel should talk to Hamas as Egypt will not maintain the blockade of Gaza.
Right wing isn’t the half of it, it’s a while since I’ve read anything so full of racist undertones! Anyway, the mass jailbreak showed the strategy of isolating Hamas to have failed, but I’m not sure a consensus has emerged on how to proceed.
And when one does, it might not be the “machiavellian” stance that you link to. The Interior minister, among others, is calling for Gaza, or parts of it, to be destroyed altogether.
http://heathlander.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/wiping-gaza-from-the-map/