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Border town reunited again

Divided by the fence for years, Rafah residents make up lost time.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Divided by a twist of history 26 years ago, this remote town straddling the Gaza-Egypt border has been reunited in just as haphazard a fashion.

After the towering border wall slicing through Rafah was toppled earlier this week, long-separated relatives, friends and even former soccer buddies had to walk just a few yards to embrace and reminisce.

One large Palestinian clan quickly married off four women to relatives on the Egyptian side. "How can we leave the other side? We were always one place," said Kamal al-Nahal, 40, an uncle of one of the brides.

About 40,000 people live on the Egyptian side and about 200,000 in Gaza's Rafah, which includes both the original town and an adjacent refugee camp. Those on the Egyptian side are mostly of Palestinian origin, but their Arabic often has more of an Egyptian dialect.

Rafah was bisected in 1982 to accommodate land claims negotiated as part of the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement. While suddenly holding different citizenship, residents of both sectors could cross the border with relative ease for several years.

However, travel became increasingly difficult as Israeli-Palestinian fighting intensified. During the second Palestinian uprising, which erupted in 2000, Gazan Rafah became one of the bloodiest flash points of violence, with gunmen often exchanging fire with Israeli troops patrolling the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israeli troops razed hundreds of Rafah homes to widen the patrol road and erected a tall wall - the one toppled Wednesday - as cover against ambushes.

The border breach was engineered by the Islamic militant Hamas to pressure Egypt to negotiate new border arrangements. Both Israel and Egypt had kept Gaza largely sealed in the past two years, especially since Hamas violently seized the territory in June.

Even during years of separation, the two sides of Rafah had long stayed connected through underground smuggling tunnels ferrying cigarettes, weapons and other contraband.

After the fall of the border wall, huge crowds of Gazans descended on Egyptian Rafah.

Many came in search of friends and relatives.

Bassem el-Akhras, 45, a nurse in the Palestinian Health Ministry, used to play in a local Rafah soccer team before the 1982 split. On Saturday, he tracked down the team's former striker, Walid Hosni, 47, in Egyptian Rafah, and the two sat on chairs outside Hosni's grocery.

"It was the best day ever, that we were able to break (through) the wall and get together again with our friends," said Hosni, who coaches the local high school soccer team.

Akhras also reconnected with six brothers and sisters in Egyptian Rafah whom he hadn't seen for 11 years, and paid respects at his father's grave. Akhras said his father died a year ago on the Egyptian side, and that he was unable to attend the funeral.

"The blockade we were under was unbearable, and this is a chance to breathe," he said.

Fast facts

Border issues

-In its first public criticism of Gaza's Hamas rulers, Egypt complained Saturday that more than three dozen members of its security forces were injured in border clashes.

-The border remained open for a fourth day, though Egyptian security forces blocked Gazans from driving beyond the border town of Rafah itself.

-The Israeli military announced Saturday that its troops were on heightened alert along the border with Egypt, and that an Israeli road and tourism sites in the area are temporarily closed.

-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were to meet in Jerusalem today. The breached border was expected to figure in their talks.

[Last modified January 27, 2008, 02:10:23]