By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
EREZ, Gaza/Egypt Border – International activists against the blockade of the Gaza Strip protested across Egypt on December 30, calling for Egypt to open its border with Gaza at Rafah. Egyptian border officials refused to allow the activists to cross into Gaza, telling the activists that they were not allowed to cross because of the “sensitive situation,” and that the Egyptian border is opened occasionally, and then only to goods, not people.
Over one thousand protesters gathered in Cairo, some reporting they were injured in scuffles with Cairo police. At one point, the Egyptian authorities offered to allow one hundred members of the Gaza Freedom March (GFM) into the Gaza Strip, but GFM leaders refused the offer, saying in a statement that they “refuse to whitewash the siege of Gaza.”
The GFM organized protests in Cairo, at the border with Gaza, and at the French Embassy in Cairo. Over one thousand, three hundred protesters from forty-two countries joined in the demonstrations. Other protesters, such as U.S. citizen Hedy Epstein, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, have gone on hunger strikes to protest the one-year anniversary of the Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip.
Many Palestinians, Egyptians, and members of the international community have questioned Egypt’s role in the ongoing Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. In addition to refusing to allow border crossings, Egypt has drawn sharp criticism from neighboring Arab countries for its reported construction of a deep steel wall at its border crossing at Rafah. Smuggling tunnels dug between Gaza and Egypt have been the only routes for goods to come in and out of Gaza since the Israeli blockade began in early 2009. The wall would cut off these tunnels.
Since the beginning of the blockade, rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel have decreased by ninety percent from 2008 levels, but the blockade has also severely restricted construction and humanitarian supplies to the Palestinian territory, as well as food and fresh water. Though Gaza lies on the Mediterranean coast, the Israeli blockade has restricted the Palestinian fishing range. The Gaza desalination plant that had been nearly completed and was expected to supply the territory with ample freshwater was completely destroyed by the Israeli military during the fighting at the end of 2008. The blockade has nearly halted all reconstruction efforts in the territory.
Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz has reported that Egyptian officials have signaled that if an Israeli prisoner swap with Hamas for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit goes through, Egypt will open its border at Rafah. Some critics have pointed to this report as further evidence that Egypt is collaborating with the Israelis in their blockade of Gaza.
For more information, please see:
BBC News – Hundreds of Activists Protest Against Gaza Blockade – 31 December 2009
Ma’an News Agency – Internationals Injured in Gaza Protests – 31 December 2009
Al Jazeera – Activists Reject Egypt’s Gaza Offer – 30 December 2009
Ha’aretz – Egypt to Open Gaza Border if Shalit Deal Succeeds – 30 December 2009
Palestinian News Network – Egypt Blocks the Gaza Freedom March – 30 December 2009
