The Calmness Agreement stipulated that the border crossings would be opened fully to allow for the transportation of fuel and raw materials needed for construction and industry, 10 days after the commencement the agreement.
80 days after the beginning of Calmness, Israel had only increased foodstuffs and petroleum derivatives around 10%, compared to the amounts transported before the Calmness Agreement . Also Israel had allowed the transport of garments, school uniforms and shoes provided that they were imported through Israeli dealers or manufactured in Israel, to ensure the continuation of the closure of local factories in Gaza and the continuation of the high rate of unemployment (Since the closure Israel didn't allow the transport of any goods manufactured in the West Bank except for some dairy products).
In the light of the ongoing Calmness in the Gaza Strip, Israel was still applying counter-effective actions affecting the peace negotiations taking place between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel, particularly by the continuous detention of Palestinian activists on the West Bank, and continuous settlements extensions, especially in East Jerusalem.
From time to time all Gaza crossings were closed, sometimes with a reason, sometimes without. Certainly they were closed every time there were rockets launched on Israel, however, regardless of the suffering of 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza Strip.
The most difficult and harsh closing of the crossings since the commencement of the Calmness Agreement, was in November 2008, when Israel closed the borders from 4/11/2008 onwards, as a result of rockets launched on the Israeli southern cities and towns as a response to an Israeli attack in the middle area of the Gaza Strip and killing Palestinian fighters in Rafah.
After one month of such a long closure, one could only imagine what type of life the people of Gaza were living, with severe food shortages, especially for about 800000 people who were getting their food share through UNRWA, being refugees.
Amira Hass an Israeli journalist who came from Cyprus on 8/11/2008 with a group of human rights activists to break through the siege, lived about three weeks in Gaza before being deported by Hamas security services on 1/12/2008. She wrote an article in Ha'aretz (12/12/2008) which described the status of 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Amira Hass explained the difficulties UNRWA faced with transporting very simple items for Gaza schools and pupils, in addition to problems transporting distilled water for medical laboratories, medicines for diabetes patients and children who suffered from heart diseases, vitamin A, and testing kits for pregnancy tests, classifying blood types and diagnosing diabetes. (The full article can be found in annex number 1.)
On 12/12/2008, it was expected that Israel would continue transporting foodstuffs and animal food to Gaza for the 3rd day, but Israel in a sudden act closed the Karni (Montar) terminal for undisclosed reasons, after only 8 out of 43 trucks were able to unload their goods in Gaza.
Gaza-Egypt crossing: Rafah
President Mahmoud Abbas and the Prime Minister of the interim government Dr. Salam Fayyadh supported the Calmness Agreement between Hamas and Israel in order to alleviate the Palestinian people in Gaza and to open the closed commercial crossings in order to lift the siege. A high ranking official stated in a closed meeting with Palestinian business men abroad, that the PA position was rejecting the full opening of the border crossings and the re-opening of Rafah passengers crossing without the full presence of the Presidential PA guards there. This coincided with the Egyptian policy, while the opening of crossings, especially Rafah, would strengthen the position of the Hamas regime and improve its popularity among the citizens in the Gaza Strip, at a time when the popularity was very low. It had declined to the extent that Dr. Ahmed Youssef (adviser to the Hamas PM Haneyyah) stated on 15/7/2008 in Al-Quds daily newspaper that the rupture between Palestinian people in Gaza had worsened in such a way that the owners of solace houses who were not affiliated Hamas, refused to receive Hamas members for offering their condolences and sympathy.
According to the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper on 3/9/2008, the Egyptian authorities decided to open Rafah crossing from time to time to minimize the suffering of the Palestinians. If so, this was probably done while the Egyptian authorities didn’t want to have another Palestinian incursion of the border like the one that occurred on 23/1/2008.
Rafah crossing was opened especially for the leaders of Hamas, patients, and others:
• On 11/7/2008 the crossing had been opened for the arrival of Hamas leader AbuHashim with his escort only from Egypt.
• On 12/7/2008 the crossing had been opened for the arrival of Hamas leader Dr. Zahhar with his escort only from Egypt.
• On 14/7/2008 the crossing had been opened for 17 Palestinian football team leaving to Jordan to participate in The Asian Football Championship.
• On 15/7/2008 the crossing had been opened for the arrival of 11 patients and citizens who were in Egypt for long time.
• On the occasion of Ramadan and for fear of another incursion of the Egyptian borders, the Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing for 2 days (31/8/2008 and 1/9/2008), from both sides. About 5000 persons benefited of this step, whether they were Palestinians stuck in Egypt or Egyptians stuck in Gaza (Al-Ahram newspaper on 2/9/2008), in addition to Palestinian students, patients, and others who had a valid permit of residence in different countries.
• Egypt opened the crossing on 20-21/9/2008 for Palestinians of certain categories: about 1000 pilgrims on their way to Saudi Arabia, students who were registered at universities abroad, patients, persons who had valid permits of residency in other countries, and one international activist who had been stuck in Gaza since 23/8/2008 (the sister of Tony Blair's wife).
• Egypt opened the crossing on 6-7/10/2008 for the return back to Gaza for the pilgrims and patients only (one way), followed by a partial opening to continue the return of these two groups only.
• During October the crossing was almost opened every couple of days for the return of Pilgrims and patients only. However also for Hamas delegation members, who came back to Gaza through Rafah crossing on 25/10/2008.
• From 4/11/2008 onwards the Rafah border crossing was opened for 3 days, of which about 4000 benefited, leaving Gaza or coming back.
• During the first week of November the crossing was opened for the Palestinian faction representatives who attended the Cairo dialogue.
• On 12/11/2008 the crossing was opened for the return of faction representatives, after the failure of the Cairo dialogue and reconciliation conference.
• From 29/11/2008 onwards, the crossing was opened for 3 days for the Pilgrims of Gaza to leave for Saudi Arabia, but Hamas security services didn't permit 3100 Pilgrims to leave Gaza, because they were registered by the PA in Ramallah, and because the Saudi government didn't apply visas for the Pilgrims that were registered by Hamas deposed government.
On 10/9/2008 a group of Egyptian parliament members (opposition and Muslim brotherhood members) arranged a symbolic popular campaign to break through the closure on Gaza Strip. They wanted to arrive at Rafah borders accompanied with Food and Health supplies addressed to the Palestinians in Gaza. The Egyptian authorities stopped the participants of this campaign at Isma’eleia City (more than 250km from Rafah). The participants dispersed peacefully after having a press conference, accusing the Egyptian Government of assisting the closure on the Gaza Strip.
Fawzi Barhoom, Hamas spokesperson, stated on 11/9/2008 that Hamas highly valued such campaigns, and asked the Arab and other international communities to do the same. In the mean time he added that Hamas felt sorry for the action of the Egyptian Government to stop this campaign, preventing it from reaching Rafah.
On 6/10/2008, the anniversary of the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel, a new group of Egyptian parliament members from the opposition (mainly from the Muslim Brotherhood), journalists, doctors, and others arranged a new campaign to come to Rafah during the scheduled opening of the crossing for pilgrims coming back from Mecca. Hundreds of Egyptian security forces stopped the participants leaving from Cairo, forcing them to disperse in Cairo itself. Others who arrived at Al-Arish City were asked to go back. The participants again accused the Egyptian regime for playing a major role in the closure on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, together with Israel.
In a new press statement on 22/10/2008, the European campaign To End The Siege on Gaza said they were preparing a new campaign to try breaking through the borders of Rafah. The campaign spokesman added that Arab parliament members (from Algeria, Kuwait, Yemen, Jordan, Sudan) would join the campaign in addition to the European delegation.
Yousi Belin, Head of the Israeli Meretz party, declared after his meeting with Omer Suliman, Egyptian Minister of Intelligence, that Egypt informed Hamas leaders it would consider normal relations with Hamas when finalizing the Israeli captive soldier issue (Voice of Israel 8/9/2008 at 8:05am).
It is worth mentioning that due to the closure of Gaza border crossings and especially Rafah, the number of smuggling tunnels near the Rafah borders approached 1100 (there is no official number) along the whole border, which is about 14km long. This means that there were about 80 tunnels per one kilometer - one tunnel every 12.5 meters. These tunnels were used to bring from Egypt materials and goods not allowed by Israel to be transported to Gaza. But the costs of these materials were very high compared to the prices on the West Bank or Israel.
Later on, Egypt started using new USA technology to find these tunnels and demolish them, fearing the smuggling of explosives and weapons to Hamas, who were controlling the majority of these tunnels, issuing licenses for excavating tunnels.
Some Palestinians were killed due to the collapse of tunnels (Egyptian Authorities and others claimed that about 140 tunnels had been closed from the Egyptian side). In some cases the tunnels collapsed due to the crossing of tunnels during the excavation. A group of people who formed a new gathering called “the families of tunnel victims” declared in press statements that they accused Egypt for the killing of their sons. They claimed that up to 28/9/2008 (press statement by the group on 28/9/2008), the number of victims since 1/1/2008 in tunnels collapses reached 45.
Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot revealed on Thursday morning 2/10/2008 that US soldiers in civilian dress were working in full cooperation with the Egyptian soldiers to discover tunnels used for smuggling arms along the Philadelphi route between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
According to the paper, in September 2008 they discovered an unprecedented number of 42 tunnels. The newspaper said that the tunnels were discovered due to the secret U.S. technology and American engineering experts.
The deployment of US troops was agreed upon during a visit by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Cairo more than half a year ago. The Israeli daily also said that "intensive activity increased the tension between Egypt and Hamas (Translated from www.Qudsnet.com/arabic of 3/10/2008 and Al-Quds daily newspaper).
80 days after the beginning of Calmness, Israel had only increased foodstuffs and petroleum derivatives around 10%, compared to the amounts transported before the Calmness Agreement . Also Israel had allowed the transport of garments, school uniforms and shoes provided that they were imported through Israeli dealers or manufactured in Israel, to ensure the continuation of the closure of local factories in Gaza and the continuation of the high rate of unemployment (Since the closure Israel didn't allow the transport of any goods manufactured in the West Bank except for some dairy products).
In the light of the ongoing Calmness in the Gaza Strip, Israel was still applying counter-effective actions affecting the peace negotiations taking place between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel, particularly by the continuous detention of Palestinian activists on the West Bank, and continuous settlements extensions, especially in East Jerusalem.
From time to time all Gaza crossings were closed, sometimes with a reason, sometimes without. Certainly they were closed every time there were rockets launched on Israel, however, regardless of the suffering of 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza Strip.
The most difficult and harsh closing of the crossings since the commencement of the Calmness Agreement, was in November 2008, when Israel closed the borders from 4/11/2008 onwards, as a result of rockets launched on the Israeli southern cities and towns as a response to an Israeli attack in the middle area of the Gaza Strip and killing Palestinian fighters in Rafah.
After one month of such a long closure, one could only imagine what type of life the people of Gaza were living, with severe food shortages, especially for about 800000 people who were getting their food share through UNRWA, being refugees.
Amira Hass an Israeli journalist who came from Cyprus on 8/11/2008 with a group of human rights activists to break through the siege, lived about three weeks in Gaza before being deported by Hamas security services on 1/12/2008. She wrote an article in Ha'aretz (12/12/2008) which described the status of 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Amira Hass explained the difficulties UNRWA faced with transporting very simple items for Gaza schools and pupils, in addition to problems transporting distilled water for medical laboratories, medicines for diabetes patients and children who suffered from heart diseases, vitamin A, and testing kits for pregnancy tests, classifying blood types and diagnosing diabetes. (The full article can be found in annex number 1.)
On 12/12/2008, it was expected that Israel would continue transporting foodstuffs and animal food to Gaza for the 3rd day, but Israel in a sudden act closed the Karni (Montar) terminal for undisclosed reasons, after only 8 out of 43 trucks were able to unload their goods in Gaza.
Gaza-Egypt crossing: Rafah
President Mahmoud Abbas and the Prime Minister of the interim government Dr. Salam Fayyadh supported the Calmness Agreement between Hamas and Israel in order to alleviate the Palestinian people in Gaza and to open the closed commercial crossings in order to lift the siege. A high ranking official stated in a closed meeting with Palestinian business men abroad, that the PA position was rejecting the full opening of the border crossings and the re-opening of Rafah passengers crossing without the full presence of the Presidential PA guards there. This coincided with the Egyptian policy, while the opening of crossings, especially Rafah, would strengthen the position of the Hamas regime and improve its popularity among the citizens in the Gaza Strip, at a time when the popularity was very low. It had declined to the extent that Dr. Ahmed Youssef (adviser to the Hamas PM Haneyyah) stated on 15/7/2008 in Al-Quds daily newspaper that the rupture between Palestinian people in Gaza had worsened in such a way that the owners of solace houses who were not affiliated Hamas, refused to receive Hamas members for offering their condolences and sympathy.
According to the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper on 3/9/2008, the Egyptian authorities decided to open Rafah crossing from time to time to minimize the suffering of the Palestinians. If so, this was probably done while the Egyptian authorities didn’t want to have another Palestinian incursion of the border like the one that occurred on 23/1/2008.
Rafah crossing was opened especially for the leaders of Hamas, patients, and others:
• On 11/7/2008 the crossing had been opened for the arrival of Hamas leader AbuHashim with his escort only from Egypt.
• On 12/7/2008 the crossing had been opened for the arrival of Hamas leader Dr. Zahhar with his escort only from Egypt.
• On 14/7/2008 the crossing had been opened for 17 Palestinian football team leaving to Jordan to participate in The Asian Football Championship.
• On 15/7/2008 the crossing had been opened for the arrival of 11 patients and citizens who were in Egypt for long time.
• On the occasion of Ramadan and for fear of another incursion of the Egyptian borders, the Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing for 2 days (31/8/2008 and 1/9/2008), from both sides. About 5000 persons benefited of this step, whether they were Palestinians stuck in Egypt or Egyptians stuck in Gaza (Al-Ahram newspaper on 2/9/2008), in addition to Palestinian students, patients, and others who had a valid permit of residence in different countries.
• Egypt opened the crossing on 20-21/9/2008 for Palestinians of certain categories: about 1000 pilgrims on their way to Saudi Arabia, students who were registered at universities abroad, patients, persons who had valid permits of residency in other countries, and one international activist who had been stuck in Gaza since 23/8/2008 (the sister of Tony Blair's wife).
• Egypt opened the crossing on 6-7/10/2008 for the return back to Gaza for the pilgrims and patients only (one way), followed by a partial opening to continue the return of these two groups only.
• During October the crossing was almost opened every couple of days for the return of Pilgrims and patients only. However also for Hamas delegation members, who came back to Gaza through Rafah crossing on 25/10/2008.
• From 4/11/2008 onwards the Rafah border crossing was opened for 3 days, of which about 4000 benefited, leaving Gaza or coming back.
• During the first week of November the crossing was opened for the Palestinian faction representatives who attended the Cairo dialogue.
• On 12/11/2008 the crossing was opened for the return of faction representatives, after the failure of the Cairo dialogue and reconciliation conference.
• From 29/11/2008 onwards, the crossing was opened for 3 days for the Pilgrims of Gaza to leave for Saudi Arabia, but Hamas security services didn't permit 3100 Pilgrims to leave Gaza, because they were registered by the PA in Ramallah, and because the Saudi government didn't apply visas for the Pilgrims that were registered by Hamas deposed government.
On 10/9/2008 a group of Egyptian parliament members (opposition and Muslim brotherhood members) arranged a symbolic popular campaign to break through the closure on Gaza Strip. They wanted to arrive at Rafah borders accompanied with Food and Health supplies addressed to the Palestinians in Gaza. The Egyptian authorities stopped the participants of this campaign at Isma’eleia City (more than 250km from Rafah). The participants dispersed peacefully after having a press conference, accusing the Egyptian Government of assisting the closure on the Gaza Strip.
Fawzi Barhoom, Hamas spokesperson, stated on 11/9/2008 that Hamas highly valued such campaigns, and asked the Arab and other international communities to do the same. In the mean time he added that Hamas felt sorry for the action of the Egyptian Government to stop this campaign, preventing it from reaching Rafah.
On 6/10/2008, the anniversary of the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel, a new group of Egyptian parliament members from the opposition (mainly from the Muslim Brotherhood), journalists, doctors, and others arranged a new campaign to come to Rafah during the scheduled opening of the crossing for pilgrims coming back from Mecca. Hundreds of Egyptian security forces stopped the participants leaving from Cairo, forcing them to disperse in Cairo itself. Others who arrived at Al-Arish City were asked to go back. The participants again accused the Egyptian regime for playing a major role in the closure on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, together with Israel.
In a new press statement on 22/10/2008, the European campaign To End The Siege on Gaza said they were preparing a new campaign to try breaking through the borders of Rafah. The campaign spokesman added that Arab parliament members (from Algeria, Kuwait, Yemen, Jordan, Sudan) would join the campaign in addition to the European delegation.
Yousi Belin, Head of the Israeli Meretz party, declared after his meeting with Omer Suliman, Egyptian Minister of Intelligence, that Egypt informed Hamas leaders it would consider normal relations with Hamas when finalizing the Israeli captive soldier issue (Voice of Israel 8/9/2008 at 8:05am).
It is worth mentioning that due to the closure of Gaza border crossings and especially Rafah, the number of smuggling tunnels near the Rafah borders approached 1100 (there is no official number) along the whole border, which is about 14km long. This means that there were about 80 tunnels per one kilometer - one tunnel every 12.5 meters. These tunnels were used to bring from Egypt materials and goods not allowed by Israel to be transported to Gaza. But the costs of these materials were very high compared to the prices on the West Bank or Israel.
Later on, Egypt started using new USA technology to find these tunnels and demolish them, fearing the smuggling of explosives and weapons to Hamas, who were controlling the majority of these tunnels, issuing licenses for excavating tunnels.
Some Palestinians were killed due to the collapse of tunnels (Egyptian Authorities and others claimed that about 140 tunnels had been closed from the Egyptian side). In some cases the tunnels collapsed due to the crossing of tunnels during the excavation. A group of people who formed a new gathering called “the families of tunnel victims” declared in press statements that they accused Egypt for the killing of their sons. They claimed that up to 28/9/2008 (press statement by the group on 28/9/2008), the number of victims since 1/1/2008 in tunnels collapses reached 45.
Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot revealed on Thursday morning 2/10/2008 that US soldiers in civilian dress were working in full cooperation with the Egyptian soldiers to discover tunnels used for smuggling arms along the Philadelphi route between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
According to the paper, in September 2008 they discovered an unprecedented number of 42 tunnels. The newspaper said that the tunnels were discovered due to the secret U.S. technology and American engineering experts.
The deployment of US troops was agreed upon during a visit by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Cairo more than half a year ago. The Israeli daily also said that "intensive activity increased the tension between Egypt and Hamas (Translated from www.Qudsnet.com/arabic of 3/10/2008 and Al-Quds daily newspaper).
