Time to say no
The plight of 2,500 Palestinian pilgrims stranded in Arish and Aqaba in the north and east of Sinai is one more facet of the catastrophic injustice suffered by the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation, and with the complicity of the international community.
The pilgrims left Palestine for Saudi Arabia last month to perform the hajj, one of the most sacred rituals in Islam which Muslims are obliged to complete at least once in a lifetime if their health and means permit. The hajj itself is no simple task, though pilgrims willingly endure its hardships in their quest for spiritual fulfilment. For Palestinian pilgrims, however, the hardships have no clear end in sight.
Arab public opinion was shaken last week when the pilgrims, returning from Saudi Arabia via the Gulf of Aqaba, were told they could only go home through the Israeli-controlled Kerm Abu Salem border crossing. While they rightfully demand they return through the Egyptian-Palestinian Rafah border crossing, where they will not be subjected to Israeli inspection, the Egyptian authorities have refused to open the border in the face of Israeli warnings not to do so. As a result the pilgrims, who face certain humiliation and possible arrest at the Kerm Abu Salem border crossing, have protested, in words and deeds, against their "imprisonment" by the Egyptian authorities in the Arish shelter camps into which they have been herded. Three elderly pilgrims have already died and dozens suffer from serious health problems.
Egyptian officials say they want a peaceful but pragmatic end to the situation. On the one hand they want to avoid the friction with Israel that will ensue if they open the Rafah border while on the other they are embarrassed by the rightful demands of the pilgrims to cross the Egyptian-Palestinian borders without Israeli inspection. Egypt, after all, is a sovereign state and should be free to decide when to open or close its borders with Gaza regardless of Israeli demands. The situation is made worse by the growing and dangerous assumption that the north of Sinai can be turned into a refugee camp for Palestinians. This is a political and humanitarian dilemma Egypt does not have to accept yet which Cairo remains reluctant to refuse outright.
Egyptian diplomacy has adopted a "neutral" approach to Hamas's seizure of Gaza and Israel's subsequent siege and collective punishment of its inhabitants, a strategy that has yet to chalk up any notable success. Yet Israel continues to demand Egypt to do more, a demand that if met would mean Cairo will abandon its "neutrality" and bluntly take the side of Tel Aviv. Egyptian flexibility over such Israeli demands will help no one. It would serve only to deepen the gap between the government and the Egyptian public and weaken Egypt's position as a key Arab player, a price Cairo shouldn't pay simply to satisfy Israel. It is no longer a question of Tel Aviv softening its fierce criticism of Egyptian diplomacy for at the heart of the matter lies a very simple choice, a choice that is Egypt's right to take, not Tel Aviv's.
Recommend
Comment
Printer-friendly