GAZA CITY, 13 September 2005 — Gaza’s Palestinians went wild with joy and celebrated as they got their first taste of freedom yesterday after Israeli troops pulled out of the coastal strip.
Hundreds climbed over the border with Egypt to reunite with relatives after decades of separation, teenage boys waded into the waters off once forbidden beaches and parents guided their children through the wreckage of abandoned Jewish settlements.
With the Palestinians taking full possession of territory for the first time in their history, leader Mahmoud Abbas declared: “These are days of glory,” but warned of the long road ahead to Palestinian statehood.
Abbas raised a Palestinian flag over the Rafah border crossing, which remained closed after Israel shut it down last week. The two sides have not yet reached agreement on whether it will be reopened.
The celebrations were marred by the storming of the Egyptian border, which raised questions about the Palestinian Authority’s ability to maintain order in Gaza, and a series of deaths. Egyptian border guards shot dead one Palestinian and three others, who did not know how to swim, drowned after jumping in the ocean, Palestinian health officials said.
Yet for one day, euphoria poured over this overcrowded and economically depressed sliver of land. Traffic jams paralyzed Gaza as Palestinians turned into tourists on their own land, marveling at the remnants of Israel’s 38-year occupation and traveling to places that had been off limits for years.
“Since last night, I have been in the street, for no reason, just to breathe the air of freedom,” said Samir Khader, a farmer in northern Gaza who needed Israeli permits to go in and out of his village, flanked by Israeli settlements. “I don’t know what the future will bring, but at least, I can come in and out of my house at any time.”
Children jumped in the dunes along the Gaza-Egypt border, where Israeli watchtowers topped with machine guns once stood, and collected spent shell casings from the sand.
Sobhey Khader stood along the Philadelphi Road, Israel’s former security zone on the border, and looked back on the wide field of rubble and bullet-pocked houses lining the edge of Rafah in southern Gaza. Israeli bulldozers destroyed hundreds of houses there.
“I’m trying to see us from the Israelis’ perspective,” he said.
Important issues lie ahead for both sides, including a decision over who will control the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt and whether Gaza will be allowed to open a seaport and airport, providing it unfettered links to the outside world. Israel retains control of Gaza’s airspace and coastal waters.
Concerned over increased weapons smuggling, Israel initially hesitated to leave the Gaza-Egypt border as part of the pullout. It agreed only after the Egyptian government promised to deploy 750 troops on the frontier to stop the smuggling.
But the border turned to chaos just hours after the Israelis withdrew early yesterday, with hundreds of Palestinians climbing over — or going around — the towering border wall on the Gaza side and then jumping over the low wall on the Egyptian side. Hooded Palestinian gunmen stood atop the Palestinian wall. “It is absolutely unacceptable for the border to be stormed,” Abbas said. “We must resolve this problem in a civilized manner.”
Control of the border was seen as a first test for the Palestinian Authority’s rule over Gaza and Egypt’s ability to control the border. Several trucks filled with armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters patrolled the border road yesterday. Few Palestinian police could be seen.
Five boys ran along the Egyptian patrol road waving a green Hamas flag and another group danced around a Hamas flag in full view of Egyptian forces.
Though some Egyptian soldiers warned the Palestinians to stay on their side of the wall, many smiled and shook hands with teenagers who climbed over. One Gazan unsuccessfully tried to buy an Egyptian soldier’s rifle.
There was some traffic in the other direction as well, as Egyptians climbed into Gaza. Many of those climbing over the border were boys smuggling cartons of cigarettes into Gaza.
Egyptian border guards said they were letting the Palestinians blow off steam and visit relatives on the Egyptian side that they have not seen in years. They said they would tighten security in the coming days.
The guards later shot and killed one Palestinian when dozens of teens tried to climb over the border, Palestinian security officials said.
Palestinian groups, especially the powerful Hamas, have been vying with the Palestinian Authority for credit for Israel’s pullout. Whoever wins the battle for public opinion is likely to reap the benefits in parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
Gaza is also seen as a trial run for how Palestinians would handle an independent state, and the world will be watching to see whether the Palestinian Authority is able to rein in the militants and bring order to Gaza’s lawless streets.
— With input from agencies
