The plight of the Palestinians stranded in Egypt is being ignored while the conditions faced by their besieged families in Gaza steadily deteriorate. Serene Assir on a crisis no one wants to remember Five months after the closure of the Rafah terminal on 14 June and the number of Palestinians stranded in Egypt is once again growing. There are now an estimated 2,000 awaiting return, including 500 stranded in Arish, North Sinai. They face deteriorating conditions on the Egyptian side of the border, says longtime Arish resident Abdel-Sater Al-Ghalban. "Little enough attention was paid to the problems of Palestinians stranded in Egypt in the summer and now their conditions have worsened," Al-Ghalban, himself of Palestinian origin, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "It seems everyone in the world has forgotten there is a siege on Gaza except Gazans themselves, those who are imprisoned there and those trapped outside." Thirty families are among those stranded in Arish. The majority of Palestinians unable to return to their homes were not in Egypt when during the 10-day Egyptian-Israeli repatriation process via Al-Oja began on 29 July and circumstances prevented their arrival in time. A further 200, who were present, were unable to re-enter Gaza for fear of arrest at the Israeli- controlled terminal. While 87 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, including Hamas MP Moushir Al-Masry, re-entered in a secret operation late September, those without the necessary connections remained. "At the height of the crisis assistance, however slim, was forthcoming," in particular from the Egyptian Doctors' Syndicate, says Al-Ghalban. Now donations, from the NGO community and from official Palestinian bodies in Egypt, have dried up, a reflection, perhaps, of the media silence over the plight not only of stranded Gazans but those besieged in the strip. "It is thanks to a few people in Sinai that the displaced have survived this crisis at all. Yet many of those willing to assist cannot afford donations, hence the personal debt that the Palestinians are piling up," adds Al-Ghalban. Rafah is the only route in and out of the Gaza Strip which is not under direct Israeli control. When the terminal was operative, scores of Gaza residents travelled in and out of the territory for medical, academic, religious and business reasons, as well as to visit relatives in Egypt and abroad. "We have been hearing rumours for months now that the terminal will re-open soon," Al-Ghalban told the Weekly. "Nobody believes it, partly because of the level of despair but more critically because we all know that Israel's position on Gaza has come to a head." On 19 September Israel declared the Gaza Strip a "hostile entity". The declaration was accompanied by a decision to keep the border terminals closed, to impose fuel and electricity cuts and to launch military operations in the Gaza Strip. Though Israel included its usual caveat that it would take into account the human rights ramifications of its actions the move was condemned by human rights groups and agencies, which denounced Israel's actions as tantamount to collective punishment. And in the light of this week's refusal by the Israeli Supreme Court to intervene in a Shin Beth decision to refuse 11 Gazans permission to leave for medical treatment on "security" grounds, it has once again become clear that Israeli reservations over "human rights ramifications" are meaningless. The refusal, though predictable, opens the door to further violations as Israel continues to act with the impunity it has enjoyed since democratic parliamentary election brought Hamas to power January 2006 and the US and European Union imposed sanctions on the Gaza Strip. In a report issued in January this year John Dugard, the UN special rapporteur to occupied Palestinian territories, noted that it is the "first time an occupied people" have been subjected to economic sanctions. In October 2007, Dugard once again stressed collective responsibility -- and in particular the responsibility of the UN within the framework of its role in the Quartet -- for the Palestinians, arguing that if the UN could not play an even-handed or be guided by human rights laws then it should withdraw from the Quartet altogether. The Palestinians may well occupy the moral high ground but it is of little solace to those in Gaza who feel abandoned to an unknown and frightening fate. With movement in and out of Gaza impossible, most Gazans today dream of little else. Poverty has soared, with 80 per cent of the population living below the UN poverty line. And while the dangers of the blockade continuing are great, more worrying is the level of despair that Israel, in complicity with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has forced upon those inside the territory. "It is amazing," says Al-Ghalban, "that Gazans have managed to withstand this crisis so long. Those stranded in Egypt are without funds, and there existence is almost totally ignored. They are heavily in debt, a debt they cannot afford given their situation at home. They are desperate to return to their homes and to their families. It is criminal that when the Gazans most need Arab help they have been forgotten."
