EGYPT’S PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak yesterday ordered the immediate opening of the Rafah passenger crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
The sole crossing on this frontier is set to function for three days, allowing students, foreign passport holders and medical cases passage in both directions. This does not mean, however, that there will be freedom of movement of Palestinians in and out of the Strip. Only the fortunate few with special permits and non-Palestinian documents can make the crossing from the portion of Rafah that is on the Gaza side of the border to the Egyptian side of the city and the outside world.
In addition to human traffic, Cairo says it will allow limited medical and other aid to pass through this entry point.
Israel – which controls the three crossings providing for the transit of goods and fuel into Gaza – severely limits goods and products it allows into the coastal enclave where 80 per cent of the 1.5 million Palestinians are dependent on international food aid.
Mr Mubarak’s decision was taken in response to widespread public outrage following Israel’s storming of the ships of the international flotilla loaded with cement for reconstruction, medical supplies, children’s toys and 679 passengers from 40 countries. During Israel’s military interdiction of the convoy nine passengers were killed and 32 injured.
To match Cairo’s gesture the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority (PA), based in the West Bank, is set to dispatch to Gaza a delegation comprised of Palestine Liberation Organisation member factions, with the aim of achieving reconciliation with Hamas. This mission will be headed by Munib Masri, a billionaire businessman and confidant of President Mahmoud Abbas.
It is not clear, however, how Hamas will react to this opening. The movement, which has ruled Gaza since June 2008, has refused to sign the Egyptian-brokered unity document until Egypt and the PA agree to key amendments.
While both sides are under considerable pressure from events and the people they rule to achieve a modus vivendi, there are countervailing pressures which may block this process.
Israel and the US have exerted strong pressure on Fatah not to reach a deal with Hamas while Hamas’s politburo, based in Damascus, has put the brakes on the Gaza leadership, scuppering reconciliation.
However, the continuing siege and blockade of Gaza, the Israeli interdiction of the flotilla, and the failure of the UN Security Council to take decisive action against Israel over its raid on the boats could force the rivals to reach some sort of accommodation if not full-scale reconciliation.
Unfortunately, the longer the division persists the greater the resistance in the Hamas and Fateh elites to the idea of powersharing.
A veteran observer said that the rivals had established equally deeply rooted and repressive regimes in the areas they administered and were determined to hang onto power.
He pointed out that this division was the result of the refusal of the Quartet – comprised of the US, EU, UN and Russia – to recognise the Hamas victory in the 2006 legislative election and to accept the national unity government formed under Saudi Arabia’s auspices.