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Gaza border barrier breached

As guards stand by, Gazans rush through the opening to buy goods in Egypt.

By Assocaited Press
Published January 24, 2008

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - The Palestinian woman in a wheelchair was stumped by a low wall in her path.

Like tens of thousands of Gazans, she was heading to Egypt after militants blew down the main border barrier. But the woman in her 50s was on her own, and there was no way she could get over the smaller hurdle, which others easily jumped.

A uniformed Egyptian police officer walked toward her, picked her up in her wheelchair and carried her across the obstacle to send her on her way. Only a day earlier, club-wielding Egyptian border guards had tried to beat back hundreds of Hamas supporters to prevent a border breach.

Surreal scenes played out Wednesday across the 7-mile border, as huge crowds of Gazans, cooped up for two years by Israel and Egypt, overran what was once a formidable barrier.

They came on foot, in cars and in donkey carts, flooding through a border barrier blown up by militants - puncturing a gaping hole in Israel's airtight closure of the Gaza Strip and giving a boost to Hamas.

In a shopping spree that was both festive and frenzied, Gazans cleared out stores in an Egyptian border town, buying up everything from TV sets to soft drinks to cigarettes.

As waves of people swarmed through the destroyed barrier - some estimated the crowd in the hundreds of thousands - Egyptian security forces lined up on one side of the border and Hamas forces lined up on the other side. None of them interfered in any way, and it appeared Hamas militants actively participated in the border breach.

The incident seemed certain to strengthen Hamas in its showdown with Israel, the West and its Fatah rivals. It also raised Israeli fears of an influx of weapons and militants to Gaza and threatened to undermine crucial Egyptian participation in a Mideast peace push by President Bush.

Official reaction to the day's events ranged from dismay to embarrassment to outright anger.

The United States expressed concern about the border breach. Israel demanded that Egypt take control of its border. Hamas called on its rivals to help come up with new arrangements for Gaza's crossings.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he had no choice but to let in the beleaguered Palestinians. But Arab and U.S. officials in Washington said the Egyptian government assured the United States the border would be closed quickly.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Hamas was to blame for the chaos in Gaza, and the instability was "very troubling" for Israel.

"It is Hamas' actions of lobbing upwards of 150 rockets a day into their territory that has caused the blockade - has caused Israel to implement the blockade," Perino said. "Hamas is not in control of the situation, they are not governing well, and the people of the - the Palestinian people are starting to realize that they do have a choice."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he won't allow Gazans to live ordinary lives while Israelis next to Gaza are suffering from daily rocket attacks.

Israel, which withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, also expressed concern that militants and weapons might be entering Gaza, and said responsibility for restoring order lies with Egypt.

Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in Geneva that the "level of desperation" among the Palestinians was made apparent by the breach and that Israel must lift restrictions on delivery of humanitarian aid.

"The 1.4-million people of Gaza live under abhorrent conditions," she told the 47-member U.N. human rights council.

The supreme Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, said his group is willing to work with Egypt and Hamas' rival, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on a shared border arrangement.

Gazans go on a shopping spree

-Osama Hassan, 25, said the border opening enables him to marry his 17-year-old fiancee next week as they were able to get items they need to set up a household. He bought a special mattress for his injured back, and she bought kitchen supplies.

-An off-duty Hamas security officer who identified himself as Abdel Rahman, 29, said it was his first time out of Gaza. "I can smell the freedom," he said by phone. "You can buy weapons in Gaza, guns and RPGs," he said, adding that it was easier to find weapons in Gaza than Coke.

-In Gaza City, the price of cigarettes, which had skyrocketed during the closure, started to drop. Local money changers began charging extra to change Israeli shekels into dollars, which Gazans were using in Egypt.

-Crowds waited along roads in Gaza City, trying to catch rides to the border. Taxi driver Mahmoud Abu Ouda made one trip to Rafah, then ran out of fuel. "The city is empty of cabs. They are all in Rafah," he said.

-Ashraf el-Sayyid, an Egyptian, rode his motorbike into the Gaza Strip - going against both traffic and logic. "I need to buy bread for my children," he said. "The Palestinians left us with nothing. It's true, they are dear to us, but today, they were like locusts."

Times Wires

Border barrier

A look at the Gaza-Egypt border barrier, breached Wednesday by thousands of Gazans:

- What it's made of: For most of its 7-mile length, the barrier is corrugated sheet metal, with short stretches of concrete blocks and of barbed wire. Through the border town of Rafah, where the breach occurred, it is metal. Its height ranges from 8 to 9 feet. It was built by Israel, starting in 2001 after a surge in Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

- Who's in charge: The Egyptian side is patrolled by the Egyptian military, while the Gaza side was policed by the Israeli military until it withdrew its forces in September 2005. Palestinian Authority forces took over, but they were ousted last summer in a bloody takeover by the militant Islamic Hamas movement, whose militiamen are at the frontier.

- Openings, closings: Since the Hamas takeover, the border has been closed for most of the time. Immediately following the Israeli pullout, Gazans broke through the wall and crossed for several days until Egyptian guards restored order. The barrier was breached again in 2006, once by explosives and once with a bulldozer.

- How effective: Despite the wall, smuggling of arms and contraband is rife, enabled by tunnels under the barrier. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Egypt was doing a "terrible" job of policing, and Israel sent to Washington what it said was a video of Egyptian soldiers allowing Palestinian arms smuggling. This month, Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said Egypt had agreed to work with U.S. trainers and spend $23-million of its U.S. military aid on equipment to detect tunnels and tighten security.

Associated Press

[Last modified January 24, 2008, 01:09:06]