GAZA: Thousands of Palestinian travelers gathered at Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt on Thursday hoping for a brief chance to leave after Cairo temporarily opened a frontier it largely keeps closed as it battles an Islamist insurgency on the other side.
Israel also maintains tight restrictions on its border with the Gaza Strip, meaning the 2 million Palestinians who live there are rarely able to leave the densely-populated enclave in which the Hamas Islamist movement is the dominant armed force.
In a wheelchair and helped by his wife and daughter, 74-year-old Awni An-Najar said at Rafah crossing that he sought to enter Egypt for treatment of his broken hip.
“Patients must be allowed to travel freely. I want to be able to walk again,” he said.
Egypt tends to open the frontier temporarily a few times a year, usually with short notice and little explanation. The latest opening began on Wednesday with no advanced announcement at all.
The Palestinian embassy in Cairo “extended gratitude to President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for his care to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people,” it said in a statement.
The Egyptian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was only the second time in more than a decade that the border was opened while unarmed security officers of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), rather than Hamas, guarded the Palestinian side.
A reconciliation agreement in October between Hamas and the rival Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gave the PA control of the Rafah crossing for the first time since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. Egypt opened the border briefly in December.
Gazans have hoped PA control could be a step toward the permanent reopening of the frontier, ending a state of de facto blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt for security reasons, which has destroyed the territory’s economy leaving Gaza with the world’s highest unemployment rate according to the World Bank.
So far, Egyptian authorities say a permanent opening of the border depends on security on the Egyptian side, where they have been battling an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency.
Because of the lack of prior notice, only several dozen travelers arrived in time to cross on Wednesday. A far bigger crowd turned up on Thursday. Rafah will close again after nightfall on Friday.
Egypt has accused Hamas in the past of aiding the Sinai insurgents, an allegation the movement denies. In recent months, Hamas has stepped up security along the border.
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Thousands of Palestinians jam Gaza border, temporarily opened by Egypt
Thousands of Palestinians jam Gaza border, temporarily opened by Egypt
Lebanon, Jordan seek solutions after Damascus bans non-Syrian trucks
- Lebanon and Jordan are seeking a solution with Syria after the latter barred foreign trucks from entering its territory, officials from both countries told AFP on Tuesday.
BEIRUT: Lebanon and Jordan are seeking a solution with Syria after the latter barred foreign trucks from entering its territory, officials from both countries told AFP on Tuesday.
Damascus had issued a decision on Saturday stipulating that “non-Syrian trucks will not be allowed to enter” the country, and that goods being imported by road must be unloaded at specific points at border crossings.
The decision exempts trucks that are only passing through Syria to other countries.
Dozens of trucks unable to enter the country were lined up on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing on Tuesday, an AFP photographer saw.
Ahmad Tamer, head of land and maritime transportation at the Lebanese transport ministry told AFP that discussions were underway with Damascus over the decision.
He said the issue was not specifically targeting Lebanon — which is trying to reset ties with Damascus after the fall of Bashar Assad — adding that he hoped to hold a meeting with the Syrian side soon.
Lebanon sends around 500 trucks to Syria per day, according to Tamer.
In Jordan, also affected by the decision, transport ministry spokesperson Mohammed Al-Dweiri told AFP that “discussions are currently underway, and we are awaiting a response from the Syrian side regarding allowing foreign trucks to enter and cross.”
Dweiri said that Jordanian trucks were continuing to unload their cargo at the free zone at the Nassib border crossing with Syria despite some “confusion.”
Around 250 Jordanian trucks travel to Syria daily, according to him.
A source in the Syrian General Authority for Ports and Customs told AFP that the decision aimed to “regulate the movement of cargo through the ports.”
Representatives of unions and associations in Lebanon’s transport sector denounced the decision on Tuesday and warning of “negative repercussions,” according to the state-run National News Agency.
Syria is the only land route Lebanon can use to export merchandise to wealthy Gulf markets.
As part of continued attempts to rekindle ties, the two countries signed an agreement on Friday to hand around 300 Syrian convicts over to Damascus.
Damascus had issued a decision on Saturday stipulating that “non-Syrian trucks will not be allowed to enter” the country, and that goods being imported by road must be unloaded at specific points at border crossings.
The decision exempts trucks that are only passing through Syria to other countries.
Dozens of trucks unable to enter the country were lined up on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing on Tuesday, an AFP photographer saw.
Ahmad Tamer, head of land and maritime transportation at the Lebanese transport ministry told AFP that discussions were underway with Damascus over the decision.
He said the issue was not specifically targeting Lebanon — which is trying to reset ties with Damascus after the fall of Bashar Assad — adding that he hoped to hold a meeting with the Syrian side soon.
Lebanon sends around 500 trucks to Syria per day, according to Tamer.
In Jordan, also affected by the decision, transport ministry spokesperson Mohammed Al-Dweiri told AFP that “discussions are currently underway, and we are awaiting a response from the Syrian side regarding allowing foreign trucks to enter and cross.”
Dweiri said that Jordanian trucks were continuing to unload their cargo at the free zone at the Nassib border crossing with Syria despite some “confusion.”
Around 250 Jordanian trucks travel to Syria daily, according to him.
A source in the Syrian General Authority for Ports and Customs told AFP that the decision aimed to “regulate the movement of cargo through the ports.”
Representatives of unions and associations in Lebanon’s transport sector denounced the decision on Tuesday and warning of “negative repercussions,” according to the state-run National News Agency.
Syria is the only land route Lebanon can use to export merchandise to wealthy Gulf markets.
As part of continued attempts to rekindle ties, the two countries signed an agreement on Friday to hand around 300 Syrian convicts over to Damascus.
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