CAIRO: The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza was opened early on Tuesday to allow patients and students blockaded in the Palestinian territory to pass through. The crossing, closed since June 2006 but occasionally reopened on an ad hoc and temporary basis, will remain open throughout Wednesday and Thursday to allow an estimated 4,600 people to pass through. On Tuesday, around 300 Gazans entered Egypt in four buses and 15 ambulances, with a Hamas official stating that 1,000 people had registered to go through the crossing. Only people who had been registered would be allowed to pass, the official added. Yet there is also the case of some 500 Palestinians who have been stranded in Al-Arish and are hoping to return to Gaza during the three days the crossing is open, according to journalists and Tagammu' party member Mustapha Singer. Additionally, there are some Palestinians who will be traveling straight from Cairo to Rafah in the hopes of returning to Gaza. Although the crossing is legally closed under an agreement that the crossing should be monitored by EU officials at all times, the crossing has been opened on several occasions since the EU monitors fled in 2006. The Egyptian line is that the crossing must be opened on occasion to relieve the plight of the Palestinians living under siege in Gaza, Singer said. The Gaza strip has been under an Israel blockade since June 2007 and Egypt has been under great pressure to reopen the crossing permanently. This is the first opening of the crossing since September when 3,600 Palestinians were allowed to cross through in both directions over two days. Those included Gazans stranded in Egypt as well as students and patients seeking medical treatment from the other side. Last July the crossing was closed during the first day of another proposed three-day stint because of clashes that broke that led to the injury of six Egyptian soldiers. Thousands had amassed hoping to get through but only 200 had been authorized to cross into Egypt. Fifteen thousand people in Gaza urgently need medical attention. Is the Rafah crossing now an Israeli-Egyptian crossing? Is Egypt now causing problems with the Palestinians? If that is the case then the crossing might as well remain closed permanently, local coordinator for Palestinian affairs and Fatah member Abdel-Sattar El-Ghalban said at the time.
