The permanent opening of Rafah Crossing was hailed by many as a positive step. But is it really so simple, asks Doaa El-Bey Since Egypt announced it would open the Rafah Crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday hundreds of Palestinians have passed through the checkpoint. The move, which is expected to ease the Israeli-imposed four-year blockade on the Hamas-ruled Strip, is indicative of a more independent-minded foreign policy on the part of Cairo. Although officials in Israel condemned the decision, Israeli newspapers this week expressed relief that by permanently opening the crossing Egypt was taking on the responsibility for Gaza's problems. As a consequence, Israeli commentators argued, Israel could wash its hands of the Strip and improve its reputation. The Israeli government, meanwhile, expressed concern that the crossing could allow for the smuggling weapons to be used by Hamas against Israel. Samir Ghattas, director of Al-Maqdis Centre for Political Studies, partially agrees with the analysis presented in Israeli newspapers. Although he concedes the positive impact of opening the crossing, he realises too that it has negative aspects. The decision, he says, could aid Israeli plans to completely separate Gaza from the West Bank, striking a blow to any plans to establish a Palestinian state. Israel has long been pressing for such a separation. Israel security bodies are relieved since they now believe Gaza's problems will be imported to Egypt. The Israeli Home Front Defence Minister Matan Vilnai declared earlier this week that Tel Aviv now holds Egypt responsible for security at the border. Israeli newspapers have suggested Tel Aviv should thank Egypt for taking that step. Hamas considers itself as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and opening the border could create a change in internal balances of power. "If the present political process in Egypt fails for any reason, it could turn Egypt into another Algeria -- God forbid," Ghattas, who is an expert on Palestinian issues, told Al-Ahram Weekly. The Zionist lobby could also use Cairo's unilateral step to put pressure on Egypt or tarnish its international image by playing on the lack of consultation. Under an agreement signed in November 2005 Israel handed over the Rafah crossing to the Palestinian Authority, with the proviso it be monitored by EU observers. Egypt had responsibility only for monitoring crossings from its side of the border. When Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2006 EU monitors suspended their mission and Egypt closed its side of the border. Mahmoud Khalaf, a strategic expert at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, sees opening the crossing as an important step, especially following the 25 January Revolution. It is high time, he said, for Egypt to reassert its role in facing Israel in support of the Palestinian cause. The move, he argues, will help mitigate Israeli intransigence in the peace talks. Tel Aviv has long accused Palestinian authorities of being unable to control Gaza. But Khalaf, too, points to a possible downside, not least the movement of terrorists between Egypt and Gaza, though he is confident the Egyptian and Palestinian police will be able to contain the problem. "The bottom line now is to focus on the positive facets, work on them and use them," he told the Weekly. Stimulating the economies on both sides of the border is, says Ghattas, one of several advantages of the opening. It will also help end the smuggling of Egyptian subsidised commodities into Gaza. Gazans have circumvented the blockade by operating hundreds of tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border. The tunnels have been used to bring in all kind of products, as well as people. The donors' meeting held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Ghattas pointed out, earmarked nearly $5 billion to rebuild Gaza after Israeli attacks in 2006 destroyed the Strip's infrastructure. Opening the borders will help Egypt win a larger share of the rebuilding. The Rafah Crossing has been open during the last four years only for humanitarian cases and students. The decision to permanently open the crossing gives Gaza residents a way to freely enter and exit their territory for the first time since 2007, when Hamas seized Gaza and Israel and Egypt closed the crossings. The decision to open the crossing was declared by Egypt's post-revolution Foreign Minister Nabil El-Arabi. He described the closure of the crossing as "disgusting" and promised in an interview with a satellite channel in April that it would reopen.
