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Palestinians run as security forces fire shots and try to seal a hole in the border wall with Egypt on Saturday, through which thousands of Palestinians have crossed in recent days, virtually without controls, in order to smuggle weapons and drugs, and meet with family. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners September 18, 2005 |
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Palestinian security forces said they sealed off Gaza's southern border early Sunday, halting a chaotic flood of people into Egypt following the Israeli withdrawal from the area.
Adnan Barbach, a spokesman for the Palestinian National Security Forces, said all the gaps in the border were closed, and 2,000 security personnel were now deployed along the border. He said the Palestinians were working with Egypt to make sure that people on both sides of the border could return home.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who promised to have the border under control early this week, was headed to Rafah to inspect the situation Sunday.
Security along the border broke down last week almost immediately after Israel completed its pullout from Gaza. With the Israelis gone, thousands of Palestinians streamed over the border into Egypt.
Palestinian officials said lots of drugs and weapons were smuggled into Gaza.
Palestinian police patrolled the border early Sunday and prevented people from crossing. With breaches in the border wall sealed, angry Palestinians were forced to turn back, threatening to return with Hamas militants and homemade rockets.
Several hundred people, mostly Egyptians, lined up at the Rafah border terminal, where forces checked identifications and allowed people to return home. Palestinians were not allowed to cross into Egypt.
Jamal Kaed, the Palestinian commander for southern Gaza, said he expected the border to be reopened within 48 hours but declined to elaborate. Israel ordered the Rafah crossing closed indefinitely before withdrawing, saying it would consider letting the Palestinians open it in six months if Abbas brought order to Gaza.
The border dispute put Abbas in a difficult situation. With legislative elections scheduled for January, Abbas needs to secure freedom of movement for his people or risk losing support to the rival Hamas movement.
But the chaos along the border reveals his weakness to the international community and will make it tougher to negotiate a future border deal with Israel. Israel fears terrorists will smuggle advanced weaponry into Gaza for use in future attacks against it. In the meantime, all traffic in and out of Gaza is to be rerouted through alternate, Israeli-controlled crossings.
The Palestinians want immediate control of the crossing into Egypt. They say the free flow of people and goods across the border is essential for rebuilding Gaza's shattered economy, and without free movement, Gaza effectively remains under Israeli occupation.
Israel and the Palestinians are playing a game of chicken on the Gaza border.
The Palestinian Authority, upset that Israel has shut Gaza's official gateway to Egypt, did little until now to stop Palestinians busting through the fence following Israel's pullout last week.
The Palestinians suggest their acquiescence in the chaos, while reflecting the weakness of their security forces, is also a tactic to pressure Israel into reopening the crossing in weeks, rather than the six months it stipulated.
Israel has countered with tighter security checks on Gaza cargo entering Israel, and could hit much harder by revoking a customs union on which Gaza's economy depends.
The stakes are high for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Both have formidable rivals breathing down their necks.
Sharon is up against a leadership threat from former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed the Gaza withdrawal and now feels vindicated. "We've barely pulled out of there," he told Israel Radio on Friday, "and already hundreds of weapons are flowing across and they (the Palestinians) are doing nothing."
Caught in the middle is Egypt, which had promised Israel to secure the border and keep out smugglers, but is not prepared to use massive force against Palestinian crowds. On Friday, hundreds again surged into Egypt, overwhelming Palestinian and Egyptian border guards.
Rafah is key to the economic recovery of the coastal territory, devastated by nearly five years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. It's an internationally recognized border crossing, enshrined in Israel's 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. Stable border arrangements there would encourage foreign investment in Gaza, and ensure the free flow of people, long cooped up under Israeli travel restrictions.
There are also broader implications for the future. A sealed-off Rafah will reinforce Palestinians' perceptions that they are still occupied by Israel. An influx of militants and weapons will harden Israeli reluctance to contemplate any withdrawal from the West Bank.
Israel and Egypt had made progress on a border deal whereby Rafah would close for several months, both for a technological upgrade and to test Abbas' ability to take control in Gaza. Israel accepted the idea that foreign inspectors would eventually replace Israeli ones at Rafah, a precedent the Palestinians hoped could later be applied to Gaza's airport and seaport.
The Israelis are building a terminal at Kerem Shalom, where Gaza, Egypt and Israel meet, but they withdrew from Gaza before it was ready for traffic. Palestinians fault Israel for withdrawing without first negotiating who polices the border.
Palestinian leaders are in intensive talks with the Egyptians, while Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev says the border disarray is causing "utmost concern."
Until now Israel's fence around Gaza thwarted most attacks, but now militants can go to Egypt and come back into Israel across parts of the Egyptian border that are lightly guarded.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz last week approved a 2.5 billion shekel (US$555 million) plan to upgrade defenses along the Egypt-Israel border, defense officials said. They also said that as a first warning, Israel has tightened security checks on Gaza cargo entering Israel, a key market, and that Mofaz has also threatened to stop all exports if the Gaza-Egypt border is not closed.
"This is their leverage," said Khatib, the Palestinian official. "Unfortunately, they are using it."
Israel's "doomsday weapon" in this test of who-blinks-first is to end its customs union with the Palestinian areas, which would make it very difficult for Gaza to export to Israel. "There would be zero ability of the Palestinians to attract any kind of investment," said an Israeli economist, Gershon Baskin.
The AP contributed to this report.
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