ANALYSTS:"CLOSING RAFAH WILL TURN GAZA TO A BIG PRISON"

Gaza City, 14 Ramadhan 1434/22 July 2013 (MINA) – Political analyst Mustafa Sawaf said that there are no other options for Gazans except the Rafah crossing, calling on the Palestinian citizens to continue their appeals to the Egyptian side in order to prevent making Gaza a big prison.

Sawaf told Alresalah.ps that “Palestinian decision makers should call the new regime in Egypt to open the crossing and to stop the incitement campaigns against Palestinians.

For his part, political science professor Dr. Hani Al-Basous told Alresalah.ps: There should be a mechanism to open Rafah crossing permanently without the effect of the internal Egyptian situation.

“There is a complexity in with the new Egyptian regime, because its refusal of dealing with Gaza even in the humanitarian aspects”.

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Due to Egypt’s decision of closing the tunnels along its borders with Gaza, Gazans have been facing severe fuel shortages affecting almost every aspect of their lives.

The oil crisis in Gaza aggravated as the June 30th demonstrations in Egypt drew to a close. Subsequently, security measures were tightened along the border, according to Alresalah.ps report monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

The spokesperson of Ministry of Transportation said that Palestinians inability to smuggle petroleum products through the tunnels under the Palestinian-Egyptian borders has worsened the crisis for 70.000 drivers in Gaza.

The amount of fuel that Israel allows into Gaza via Karm Abu Salem crossing is both limited and expensive.

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Gas stations in Gaza are either out of fuel and shut down or with small amount of fuel and huge number and people queuing for their next supply of fuel.

The fuel shortage is one of many hardships Palestinians in Gaza are facing daily as a result of the Israeli blockade and Egypt’s closure of Rafah crossing.

The people of Gaza have called on the Egyptian authorities to remove the blockade.

No change in procedure to travel to Egypt

Egyptian ambassador in Ramallah Yasser Othman said that there is no change in the travelling procedures concerning the Palestinians need to travel to Egypt.

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He refuted the claim of banning the Palestinians from entering Egypt .

Othman said to Al-Ayam newspaper on Sunday, “there are temporary measures taken to organise the travel from and to Gaza through the Rafah crossing .”

He said, “There is no change in the travel procedures concerning the Palestinians. As it is commonly known if the visa is valid, anyone holding it can enter Egypt.

Referring to the Palestinians holding temporal Jordanian passports , he said,” their travel procedures does not change.”

It is worth mentioning that Egypt government closed the Rafah crossing after the military coup and it was then reopened only to Foreign nationals and patients. (T/P02/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)