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Rafah Palestinians Yearn for Family Reunion
RAFAH, September1 , 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – It has always been the dream of Palestinians in Rafah to reunite with their families on the Egyptian side of the southern Gaza Strip city. Now it can come true after the Israeli pullout.
“Words are poor to express how happy I’m with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Only now I can see my relatives after years of arbitrary Israeli bans,” Amina Abdel Rahman,55 , told IslamOnline.net Thursday, September1 .
Mohammad Al-Nahal, who lives in the Egyptian side of Rafah, said the Palestinians can now breathe freely and feel secure thanks to the planned deployment of Egyptian troops to the Egyptian side of Rafah.
“We can now lead normal lives after the deployment of Egyptian soldiers and the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces,” he said.
The Israeli parliament on Wednesday, August 31 approved a deal to hand control of a buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border to Egyptian forces after Israel completes its pullout from the territory.
The agreement sanctions the deployment of 750 Egyptian border guards on the Egyptian side of the Gaza frontier to replace Israeli troops stationed in the Salahudin (Philadelphi) corridor.
Israel evacuated all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of120 in the West Bank in August under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from conflict with Palestinians.
Israeli military forces are to pull out of Gaza by late September, handing control of the entire territory to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
No More Barriers
Adnan Barhoum said barriers and walls will no longer separate Palestinians of Rafah.
After the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in September2000 , Israel set up a10 -meter high razor-wired wall stretching for nine kilometers between both sides and often deny many Palestinians to return home once they left for a catalogue of excuses.
“Though we are only 250 meters away, I can’t see my brothers living in Egyptian Rafah,” added Abdullah Al-Shaar, who lives in the Palestinian side of Rafah.
Salem Al-Erian, a Palestinian Rafah resident, said the people of Rafah woke up to find their city divided into two; one in a country and the other part in another.
“Ironically, the Israeli occupation army has never respected international border demarcation save Rafah,” he said.
Dozens of Palestinian families were scattered across both sides of Rafah following the signing of the Camp David Accords by president Mohammad Anwar El-Sadat of Egypt and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in 1978 under the auspices of US president Jimmy Carter.
With the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula in1982 , Egypt and Israel demarcated their borders, dividing Rafah into two sectors on the Palestinian and Egyptian borders.
Osama Sabry have not seen his wife and children for three years. But the end of 38 years of Israeli occupation revived his hopes.
“My wife left for Rafah on the Egyptian side to visit her family, but she was later denied an Israeli permission to allow her in,” he said in an emotional voice.
“I have suffered too much pain since they left. I could not even see my new-born baby who is now three-year-old.”
But some Palestinians are wary of the Israeli control over the airspace and Gaza crossings, like the main Rafah or Erez checkpoint, after the pullout, which could turn the strip into an open-air prison.
Israel usually shuts down the Rafah crossing under security excuses.
The suffering of Palestinian travelers swelled in August of last year when the occupation army closed the checkpoint for up to 17 consecutive days.
Some 3 , 000men, women and children of all ages were crammed into a parking lot about half the size of a soccer field with only two doors for ventilation and straw mats serving as beds.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-09/01/article01.shtml
Mohammad Al-Nahal, who lives in the Egyptian side of Rafah, said the Palestinians can now breathe freely and feel secure thanks to the planned deployment of Egyptian troops to the Egyptian side of Rafah.
“We can now lead normal lives after the deployment of Egyptian soldiers and the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces,” he said.
The Israeli parliament on Wednesday, August 31 approved a deal to hand control of a buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border to Egyptian forces after Israel completes its pullout from the territory.
The agreement sanctions the deployment of 750 Egyptian border guards on the Egyptian side of the Gaza frontier to replace Israeli troops stationed in the Salahudin (Philadelphi) corridor.
Israel evacuated all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of120 in the West Bank in August under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from conflict with Palestinians.
Israeli military forces are to pull out of Gaza by late September, handing control of the entire territory to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
No More Barriers
Adnan Barhoum said barriers and walls will no longer separate Palestinians of Rafah.
After the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in September2000 , Israel set up a10 -meter high razor-wired wall stretching for nine kilometers between both sides and often deny many Palestinians to return home once they left for a catalogue of excuses.
“Though we are only 250 meters away, I can’t see my brothers living in Egyptian Rafah,” added Abdullah Al-Shaar, who lives in the Palestinian side of Rafah.
Salem Al-Erian, a Palestinian Rafah resident, said the people of Rafah woke up to find their city divided into two; one in a country and the other part in another.
“Ironically, the Israeli occupation army has never respected international border demarcation save Rafah,” he said.
Dozens of Palestinian families were scattered across both sides of Rafah following the signing of the Camp David Accords by president Mohammad Anwar El-Sadat of Egypt and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in 1978 under the auspices of US president Jimmy Carter.
With the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula in1982 , Egypt and Israel demarcated their borders, dividing Rafah into two sectors on the Palestinian and Egyptian borders.
Osama Sabry have not seen his wife and children for three years. But the end of 38 years of Israeli occupation revived his hopes.
“My wife left for Rafah on the Egyptian side to visit her family, but she was later denied an Israeli permission to allow her in,” he said in an emotional voice.
“I have suffered too much pain since they left. I could not even see my new-born baby who is now three-year-old.”
But some Palestinians are wary of the Israeli control over the airspace and Gaza crossings, like the main Rafah or Erez checkpoint, after the pullout, which could turn the strip into an open-air prison.
Israel usually shuts down the Rafah crossing under security excuses.
The suffering of Palestinian travelers swelled in August of last year when the occupation army closed the checkpoint for up to 17 consecutive days.
Some 3 , 000men, women and children of all ages were crammed into a parking lot about half the size of a soccer field with only two doors for ventilation and straw mats serving as beds.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-09/01/article01.shtml
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LOL!!! Mohamed must have been bor AFTER the Egyptian OCCUPAITION of Gaza.
Egypt is BACK, and they don't have their hands tied as the Israelis do.
If you are so sure that Palestine, the country, goes back through most of recorded history, I expect you to be able to answer a few basic
questions about that country:
· When was it founded and by whom?
· What were its borders?
· What was its capital?
· What were its major cities?
· What constituted the basis of its economy?
· What was its form of government?
· Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat?
· Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation?
· What was the language of the country of Palestine?
· What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine?
· What was the name of its currency?
· Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the
US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese Yuan on that date.
· And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?
· If you are lamenting the low sinking of a once proud nation, please tell me, when exactly was that nation proud and what was it so proud of?
The going rate is 100O palestinians = approx 1 Israeli
(prisoner excaange rate)
THERE WAS NO MODERN DAY STATE OF ISRAEL BEFORE 1948....
AND WHEN THE STATE OF ISRAEL WAS DECLARED IT DID NOT INCLUDE THE WEST BANK AND GAZA....
IF THE ISRAELIS CAN CALL THEMSELVES ISRAELIS, THEN THE PALESTINIANS CAN CHOOSE TO CALL THEMSELVES PALESTINIANS AND THE STATE THAT THEY SEEK, THEY CAN CHOOSE TO CALL PALESTINE....
WANT TO END THE CONFLICT AND HAVE PEACE?
THEN LETS USE SOME REASONING AND COMMON SENSE....YES I KNOW ALL CAPITALS EQUALS SHOUTING...
West Bank and Gaza is only 22% of what is Today Israel, West Bank and Gaza.
Not to much to ask for 4,000,000 People since the other 6,000,000 would be left with 78% which is Israel Proper.
Do the math...Who gets the most land per-person???
If Israel want Peace and Freedom, then the Palestinians must have Peace and Freedom in A Palestinian State in the Whole of the West Bank and Gaza.
Without Palestinian Freedom, and with the U.S. supporting Israel, The U.S. is seen as Hypocritical and a nation of Double Standards.
In the end Israel with over 5,000,000 People and a Superior Military will have to be recognized, but not as long as the Palestinians are under Occupation and being Oppressed.
What we should have learned by the Gaza Pull Out.
That People whether Israelis or Palestinians do not like losing their land and homes.
So before we really have a huge problem in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Because until there is the Palestinian State there is still reason for the resistance.
Let us go ahead and make that Palestinian State in the Whole of the West Bank and Gaza.
That we do not have that State with its official Borders is the Problem Now.
Everyone is quite aware that there are some 1,200,000 or so Arabs living inside Israel Proper. Almost every single nation on earth is made up of more then one ethnic group.
So instead of forcing people to move, just fix the borders.
The 400,000 or so Jewish settlers will then be living in Palestine.
Let there be a five to ten year period on which they can decide on their own whether or not they like living in Palestine or if they want to move to the Official State of Israel.
Once they choose on their own, Israel can then help them financially to move.
Lets not have the forced move like in Gaza…….
The most important thing we can do for Peace Now and not in the distant future is to make the Palestinian State NOW! That will end the reason for the conflict.
Israel with some 5,000,000 or so Jews and 1,200,000 Arabs.
Palestine with some 4,000,000 or so Palestinians and some 400,000 Jews.
There is conflict because the Palestinians are being Oppressed not because a Jew lives down the Road.
I might not be saying this if there were not already Arabs living with Jews in Israel Proper.
The other Current Problem is the Wall inside the West Bank instead of on the Pre 1967 (Green Line) Border.
If the Wall was on the Green Line. The Jews who do not like living East of the line can choose on their own to move West of the Line.
Yes we know about those Arab States, but they have their own Government and their own People which is over 100 times the number of People that concerns us in the Israel-Palestinian Conflict.
And the People that do concern us...Most were born and have lived in the West Bank and Gaza all their lives. It is not like we are giving them a state in land where they do not now live.
And yes the Israelis who live inside Israel Proper by this point in time have been born and lived in Israel all their lives, therefore they should be Recognized and allowed to live in Peace inside Israel Proper....But many of the settlers were not born in the West Bank and Gaza....Therefore the Point that the Population of the settlements went from around 100,000 in the early 1990 to over 300,000 today.
And like I have said there are 1,200,000 Arabs living in Israel proper. Many more then the 400,000 or so Jews who would be living in a Viable Palestinian State in the Whole of the West Bank and Gaza.
And the ones who do not like living in the West Bank part of Palestine can always be helped to move to Israel instead of being forced to move like what happened in Gaza.
And of course most of this occurred after the Oppression of the Arab People in the Israeli region.
And why Occupy the land where 4,000,000 Palestinian live and Oppress these 4,000,000 Palestinians (over 4 times as many People as were expelled from Arab countries). Since many of the 850,000 Jews, expelled now live in Israel Proper where many Arabs were expelled
We admire certain people when they say give me liberty or give me death, or those poor people they are fighting so hard for their freedom, but when the Palestinians try to say that or do something about getting their freedom, they are automatically branded terrorist....Why the double standard?