Hi 73 / Lo 55
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Hi 73 / Lo 55 |
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Volume 72, Issue 123,
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Opinion Restrictions at Rafah brutal, unjust Sousan Hammad
Rafah, a town near the Egyptian border in the southern part of the Gaza Strip in Palestine, has been a waking nightmare as Gazans' only international crossing. Since Western governments imposed economic sanctions on Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, Gazans especially are virtually cut off from the world because of the disastrous restrictions. The Rafah crossing, which is opened only once a month, leaves Palestinians stranded at the border on the Egyptian side, as they wait, sometimes for two or three weeks, for the border to be opened. The problem is Gazans do not control the Rafah crossing and thus have no access to adequate health care or medicine because of the sanctions. Control of the crossing was originally transferred to the extemporary Palestinian government in September 2005, but just two months later the European Union began to monitor the crossing because of Israeli concern over security. Under the declaration of the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Palestinians are decreed to have a self-ruling government, but Isreal ultimately controls the exit and entry of all Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza or the West Bank. The United Nation's Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs has condemned the situation in Gaza, precisely at the Rafah crossing, where in July 2006, seven Palestinians waiting to cross Rafah into Gaza died from sunstroke or dehydration. A condemnation from the United Nations is apparently irrelevant to the decision-makers sitting on their thrones. The inhumane picture that is painted at the scene in Rafah is one without color or magnificence. When the crossing is opened, only a select amount of people are allowed through, while thousands hold on to their belongings anxiously hoping that just this time they will increase the number of crossings. In 130 square kilometers, 1.5 million people reside, of whom 70 percent are unemployed and unable to go into the West Bank or Israel for work. Many Gazans who either cannot afford medical care or do not have access to it because of the sanctions cross Rafah into Egypt for their health care needs. Shrapnel wounds, amputations, organ failures and cancer are just a few of the many conditions people who are stranded for days at the border suffer from. In the United States, animals are treated more humanely than Gazans who are left to wither along the border. Just over a week ago, a woman was caught trying to cross the border with three baby crocodiles strapped to her waist underneath her clothing; the crocodiles had their jaws tied shut with string. The woman tried to smuggle the baby reptiles in to sell them to Gaza's small, improvised zoo. There is something obviously wrong when people are resorting to selling exotic animals for income, but the sheer demographics are apparently not enough for the world to realize Gaza's pejorative situation. If one desires to visit family members in Gaza, the entrance for non-Gazans is through the Erez checkpoint, which borders Gaza and Israel. In my case, my family lives in Jabalya Refugee Camp and a special permit is required to enter Gaza. The travails of obtaining a permit just to enter are painful enough. It takes weeks, and the permit itself may not even work since it is entirely up to the Israeli security personnel and Shabak (Israel's security agency) to decide who comes in and out. Last summer I was detained for 15 hours because a Shabak intelligence officer saw me writing in my journal and apparently considered that a military threat. The complex process that Gazans have to face just to leave the Gaza Strip is malicious and a humanitarian disaster. We take for granted the amenities we have in this country and do not think of others' situations, not just in Gaza but in other ill-fated countries as well. Hammad, a communication junior,
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