| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Gazans head home as Egypt blocks supplies |
| 2008-01-28 |
| Palestinians have streamed home through the breaches in Gaza's border with Egypt, as Egyptian authorities choked off supplies to the area and moved to restore control. Egypt has struggled to re-seal the border and contain hundreds of thousands of needy Gazans who have poured across since militants blasted openings last Wednesday to evade an Israeli blockade on the Hamas Islamist-run territory. A reporter on the Egyptian side of the border town of Rafah saw hundreds of Palestinians leaving Egypt and only a handful of people crossing in from the Gaza Strip. "We wanted to buy food. It was very difficult. We could not find anything," said 17-year-old Khalil Hamdan. "We won't come back because all the products are finished." Hundreds of trucks were held up at a bridge that leads from mainland Egypt to the Sinai peninsula and Gaza. Merchants in the border town of Rafah said they were struggling to get supplies of food and cigarettes. Fuel was also running short. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said his country would take steps to control the border with Gaza "as soon as possible", without giving details. Egyptian forces tried to seal the border last week but militants just bulldozed new openings. In the town of El-Arish, near Rafah, police told Palestinians in the street that the border would soon be shut, witnesses said. Gazans were told to walk only on roads leading back towards the border, and were stopped from returning. Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, does not want to be seen as aiding the Israeli blockade. However, it also fears the spread of Islamist influence and the effects of hosting so many Palestinians without identity papers. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Well, folks, Hamas block party is over now. We'll do it again. It was fun. Combine the party with Saturday Bazaar. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-01-28 23:14 |
| #2 I think it would be amusing if the Egyptians eventually mined the border. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2008-01-28 10:44 |
| #1 cuz they're like an infection, and they'll spread |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-01-28 07:32 |