2023-10-13 08:30:00
The majority of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are descendants of those who fled or were expelled from the territories that became Israel following the Arab-Jewish War. International human rights organizations describe the area as the world’s largest open prison. Israel to the east. To the west is the Mediterranean Sea. Southwest Egypt. Such is the geography of the Gaza Strip, which remains an island within Israel, one of the two scattered parts of the State of Palestine.
Israel directly and indirectly controls the sea, land and air of Gaza. In a sense, it was Israel’s decision as to who should come and go in Gaza. Gazans have only two ways out of here. One is the Beit Hanoun (Eres) border at the northern end of Gaza. This is the only existing gate into Israel. It is also the only land route to the West Bank, the main Palestinian territory. It is only 50 kilometers from northern Gaza to Hebron in the West Bank. But this journey through Israel is not an easy one for the Gazans. Except for the Beit Hanoun border, Israel has constructed a concrete wall and double wire fencing along the rest of the border. The Israeli army will shoot anyone who illegally enters within one kilometer of it. It is another matter that Israel has defended itself by taking this one kilometer area into Gaza soil. There is a strong guard here.
Egypt is the second way. If they want to leave Gaza full of hunger and conflict and go to other countries without falling under Israel’s gun, Egypt is the only place before them. But for a decade and a half, neither Ali nor Egypt showed much respect to the people of Gaza. Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, has accused Israel of turning Gaza into an open prison with the help of Egypt. And in front is only the Mediterranean Sea.
Woman injured in Israeli attack Photo: AFP
The Israeli Navy has restricted the freedom of movement of Gazans to within 12 nautical miles of the Mediterranean Sea. The port is not allowed. If you try to go by air, there are no operational airports. There were four airports in Gaza and the West Bank, but none were operational. All these were destroyed and sealed off by Israel in many wars. Yasser Arafat International Airport, opened in Gaza in 1998, was bombed by Israel in 2001. This was the time of the uprising (second intifada) in Palestine against the Israeli occupation. Runways were demolished with bulldozers.
The arrival of Hamas and the closure of GazaIn June 2007, the radical Hamas seized political control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority led by the Fatah party. Since then, Gaza has been in a similar state of lockdown. Israel, on the other hand, watched Hamas’s move from the sidelines. Israel, the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Palestine, showing that they will not accept the victory of the extremist Hamas. All these countries have previously designated Hamas as a terrorist group. It was a time when more than 100,000 Gazans were employed in Israel. With this, Israel stopped issuing work permits to Gazans and closed the borders.
Israel separated Gaza and the West Bank, which are two parts of the same country, citing security reasons. Communication and people-to-people contact between the two regions has been completely stopped. Israel also restricted the travel of Gazans through the detours through Egypt and Jordan. They argued that this was to prevent terrorist networks from growing from Gaza to the West Bank. Other arguments by Israel were that it would not allow trouble in the area where its settlers live, and that Hamas and other armed groups could recruit Gazans who were allowed to travel through Beit Hanoun and transfer aid for terrorist activities. Gaza residents depended on Israel for electricity and water. It also stopped. And so will the flow of goods to Gaza. The common people of Gaza, whose only assets are hunger and fear of death, are facing disaster.
A woman injured in an Israeli attack is moved to a safe place Photo: AFPGaza professionals suffocated
Many are outraged by Israel’s closure policies. Professionals, students, artists and athletes in Gaza had no opportunities in their own country. Their pleas to cross the Erez (Beit Hanoun) border into the West Bank and thus the rest of the world to participate in competitions and work have not been ignored by the Israeli government. Many people have openly expressed these things in interviews given to human rights organizations.
The people of the world were reduced to Gaza, unable to travel or study abroad. Life is like being locked inside a box. In many ways it was a prison. Many calculated that if the Irez border was opened, they could go through Israel to the Palestinian territory of the West Bank (the West Bank shares borders with East Jerusalem, Jordan, and the Dead Sea), and from there cross into Jordan and fly abroad. But Israel did not allow it. Over the past decade and a half, Israel has opened its borders to only a handful of people trying to get to Jerusalem or the West Bank for emergency medical treatment.
Gaza is only about 100 kilometers from Jerusalem. However, due to strict security measures, the travel time can take several hours. Between 2015 and 2018, an average of 373 Palestinians left Gaza per day through Erez. This compares to a daily average of 26,000 in September 2000. Human rights groups accuse Israel of violating the 1995 Oslo Accords signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization through the travel ban. However, Israel has retorted that it has the sole authority to decide who can enter the country.
Israeli soldiers fighting against Hamas Photo: AFPEgypt and the Rafah borderThe Rafah border has always been the main escape route for Gazans in case of any untoward incident in the country. A route to Egypt and from here to other Arab countries. Those passing through Rafah face a six- to eight-hour journey through the Sinai desert, passing several checkpoints on their way to Cairo, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) away. Another issue is that Palestinians from the occupied West Bank are not allowed to cross the Rafah border into Gaza. Moreover, if you leave Gaza via the Rafah, Israel will not allow you to return via the Erez crossing. Means return journey may not be possible. Cargo movement was also carried out through the Rafah border.
When Egypt also closed its bordersAfter Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, Egypt closed the Rafah border. Israel has said it fears Hamas could smuggle weapons into the country through Egypt. As far as Egypt is concerned, Palestine is a non-existent state. Egypt also increased the impact of the shutdown. Due to this, the inflow of goods in the area has decreased. It was big news in 2008 when Hamas operatives breached part of the Rafah border wall, sending tens of thousands of starving Palestinians running to Egypt to buy supplies. The closure of the border to the Palestinians and the cooperation with Israel earned the then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak criticism from his own country. Hosni Mubarak lost power in 2011. The interim government that came to power later announced that the Rafah border would remain open permanently. It was a time when Palestinians had complete freedom of movement between Egypt and Gaza. Up to 1200 people were allowed to go there on a daily basis. After Mohammed Morsi, who later came to power, lost power in 2013, cross-border travel permits were first curtailed and then abolished.
Since May 2018, Egypt has permanently opened the Rafah border. However, there were other hurdles. One has to wait for weeks for the travel permit. Travel companies with ties to Egyptian authorities must pay large sums of money to expedite travel, otherwise entry will be denied. It is estimated that tens of thousands of Gazans left the country permanently in 2019.
Secret tunnels at the Rafah borderWhen the direct border was closed, the underground tunnels that operated in secret later fed the residents of Gaza. The small amount of food delivered to human rights organizations was not enough for the Gazans. So underground tunnels were secretly built from the Egyptian border to Gaza and from Gaza to Israel. From 2007 to 2013, the United Nations estimated that around 1,600 tunnels were operating in the Rafah border region. The entrance of the tunnel is often inside the bordering houses. This is how the Palestinians have access to food, fuel, medicine, electronics and construction materials. As a smuggling ring, the tunnel trade flourished.
Apart from the goods, there are also reports of weapons including rockets from Iran and Syria coming through the tunnels. Not enough construction materials reached Gaza via Israel to rebuild houses and buildings damaged by the bombings. Hamas said it would have taken at least 80 years to rebuild the building with the limited materials provided by Israel. Those who used the materials that came through the tunnels did the construction. People also used to travel through tunnels.
At the same time, Israel and Egypt made various attempts to destroy the tunnels. In 2009, Israel bombarded the Rafah border. In 2010, a secret gas leak by Egypt through the tunnel led to the deaths of several Palestinians. By 2013, nearly 1,600 tunnels had been destroyed by Egypt’s al-Sisi government. Another option adopted by the military was to pump water from the Mediterranean Sea into the tunnels at the suggestion of Israel. This has led to major environmental problems in the region. Apart from all this, Egypt has also created a buffer zone of about a kilometer along the Rafah border where the tunnels were built.
Land crossings are seven; Israel is in controlThere were seven border gates around Gaza. Only three are functioning today. One is the Kerem Shalom Crossing (known as Karem Abu Salem Cross in Palestine). The junction of the Gaza-Egypt border and the Gaza-Israel border was for a long time Gaza’s main commercial gateway, used to transport Gazan products for sale abroad and so on. Cargo trucks from Israel and Egypt came to Gaza through this route. Israel has imposed restrictions here since 2007. The number of goods that can be brought through the border has been reduced. Ires and Rafah are the other two borders currently in operation.
The Al Muntar (Karni) crossing in the northeast of Gaza served as a gateway for Israeli settlers to enter settlements in Gaza and elsewhere. It was temporarily closed by Israel in 2007 and permanently in 2011. Al Awda (Sufa) in eastern Rafah was a small gate used to bring in building materials. Israel shut it down in 2007. Al Shujaiya (Nahl Aws) is another. Fuels such as gases, benzene and diesel were used to bring them to Gaza through an underground pipeline. It was also closed in 2010. Al-Karara (Kissufim), east of Khan Yunis, was closed by Israel in 2005. During the military occupation of Gaza, Israel used it as an entrance gate for tanks and military vehicles to enter here.
Those fleeing Gaza following the war Photo: AFPHow the Palestinian Authority came to beThe Fatah party dominated Palestinian politics until the 1950s. But in the 2006 parliamentary elections, Hamas won a majority. Hamas accused the Fatah rulers of being corrupt and inefficient and that they saw the election as a result of people’s discontent. After all this, Hamas-Fatah formed a coalition government. Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah party became president and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas became prime minister. But the governance got stuck in differences of opinion and worsened. Due to pressure from Israel and the UAE and differences of opinion, the Fatah party was unwilling to govern with Hamas. They tried to oust Hamas from power. Mahmoud Abbas declares a state of emergency and ousts Hamas prime minister. Unwilling to accept this, Hamas declared Haniya as its leader.
Palestine soon descended into civil war. In June 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip through a military operation. Control of a large swath of West Bank under Fatah. Hamas expels Fatah officials from Gaza. The activists and forces of both sides clashed with each other. With that, Palestine was divided in terms of power as well as geography. Attempts at a unity government were repeated but to no avail.
Israel’s Concession in 2022In 2021, Israel made some concessions in its policies following the 11-day war with Hamas. As before 2007, the Palestinians in Gaza have access to employment in Israel. Then-Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced in March 2022 that 20,000 permits would be issued to Gazans to work, including in construction and agriculture. But Israeli rights group Gisha reports that Israel did not issue as many permits as announced.
Gaza
A small area, 41 km long and 6 to 12 km wide. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with about 23 lakh people living in 365 square kilometers. About half of them are refugees. Unemployment is 46.4 percent. The majority of the population are Sunni Muslims. A small Christian minority. Gaza has five governorates.
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