RAFAH, Egypt, 29 September 2005 — Armed with an automatic rifle, the Egyptian guard, Ahmed, took shelter from the scorching sun in the ruins of an old border crossing. Nearby, a Palestinian teenager from the Gaza side of this poor border town emerged from a bushy trail that stretches across the buffer of clumsy barbed wire fences and guard posts. The 14-year-old, Salama, sneaked across the porous frontier, hauling a plastic bag. “They are only jeans — nothing else,” he said. The Egyptian soldier just shrugged: “What can I do?” he asked.
This sand-swept and divided town has for years been a trafficking hub, not only for clothes and other goods but also for weapons smuggled into Gaza to militants fighting Israel. For years, that caused Egyptian-Israeli tension. But now, two weeks after Israel ended its 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip, Rafah is proving a stark new dilemma for Egypt. On the one hand, Egypt fears that extremists from Gaza will spill over into its territory, worsening its own extremist problem in the Sinai desert. On the other, it fears a domestic political backlash if it cracks down too hard on Palestinians from Gaza.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday in Cairo to discuss the border issue, and the growing chaos in Gaza. Abbas said Hamas was partly to blame for the latest bout of violence, and sought to enlist Egypt’s help to halt the deteriorating conditions.
Last week, Abbas said the official Gaza-Egypt border, closed by Israel when it pulled out, would reopen only as part of an international agreement. Egypt, which has suffered major strikes on its tourist resorts in the Sinai, has a large stake in keeping the radical Islamic groups in Gaza, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad under control, and off its side of the border. Yet, Egypt also is leery of being seen as Gaza’s jailer. Thus, in the first few days after Israel pulled out of Gaza earlier this month, Egyptian officials allowed a stream of illegal crossings in a goodwill gesture.
“Gaza will not be turned into a big prison, be sure of that,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abou Gheit said Monday in an interview with Al-Arabiya television. Even now, more than two weeks after the Israeli pullout, a small force of lightly armed Egyptian troops has yet to fully take up its responsibility for policing the 12-kilometer border line, which stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the dunes of the Sinai desert.
That has allowed many poverty-stricken Egyptians and Palestinians, like Salama, the 14-year-old who would not tell a reporter his last name, to venture through gaps in the fence - making money by smuggling goods and sometimes people.
Israel sealed off Gaza’s main border crossing with Egypt as it was withdrawing its troops from the territory, making legal crossings impossible. Before the pullout, Egypt agreed to deploy 750 of its poorly trained border guards under an agreement with Israel, to secure its side of the frontier and prevent weapons smuggling. In a separate agreement with the Palestinian Authority, Cairo also agreed to help rebuild the fractured Palestinian security forces.
But as the Israelis left, thousands of joyous Palestinians and Egyptians streamed across the border in celebration of the end of Israeli occupation. Most were shopping for cheaper goods or visiting relatives. Others brought back to Gaza large quantities of arms.
Ahead of Israeli’s withdrawal, Egypt has played a key role as a mediator between the Palestinian Authority and militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In March it helped convince the Palestinian factions to sign a truce declaration. Samir Ghattass, a political analyst, said it all depends on how things go in Gaza after the Israeli pullout and whether Abbas “will be able to put Gaza in order.”
“Otherwise, Egypt will either find itself enmeshed in the continued violence, or leave the Palestinians play havoc with Gaza. That is an even greater danger,” he said. Abbas could hardly disagree. “We are in a deadlock,” he said in Cairo after meeting Mubarak.
