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Sat, May 28, 2011 | Jerusalem Post

Opening of the Rafah crossing. (Photo: Hatem Moussa / WAFA)

Egypt’s anti-Israel pro-Islamist Regime Opens Rafah Crossing

Despite Israeli concerns, Egypt’s regime eased travel restrictions for residents of Gaza, opening the Rafah crossing in both directions on the Egypt-Sinai-Gaza border after four years, Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday.

Egyptian envoy to the Palestinian territories Yasser Othman said that Egypt “would not let anyone interfere” with the opening of the Rafah crossing to regular pedestrian traffic, Army Radio reported. Othman said that the opening of the crossing was an “internal Egyptian issue.”

Egypt announced this week that, as of Saturday, the border crossing will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for Fridays and official holidays. Palestinian men aged 18 to 40 will still need visas to cross, but older men, boys and females of all ages will be able to travel without one. In the first hour after the crossing opened on Saturday some 300 people crossed from Gaza to Sinai.

Rafah crossing had been closed since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after ousting the Palestinian Authority forces. Egypt, which was then under the rule of deposed leader, Hosni Mubarak, closed the borders to prevent weapon smuggling.

Thursday’s announcement of the move, which was immediately hailed by both Fatah and Hamas, was received with concern in Israel.

An officer from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) warned that it could lead to an increase in the flow of weapons and terrorists from Egypt into Gaza and Vice Premier Silvan Shalom urged the international community to prevent it.

The reopening of the sensitive border crossing — especially without any independent monitoring — could enable Hamas to transfer into Gaza larger quantities of weapons, as well as terrorists who underwent training in Syria and Lebanon, the officer said.

“There are already vast quantities of weaponry being smuggled into the Gaza Strip via the tunnels under the border with Egypt,” the officer said. “If the border is opened, we can assume that still larger amounts will be brought in.”

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