MAYOR: EGYPTIAN MOAT ALONG GAZA SOUTHERN BORDERS PERILOUS

Rafah, 24 Dzulhijjah 1436/8 October 2015 (MINA) – Rafah Mayor, Subhi Redwan, warned of the serious repercussions of an underway seawater-filled moat built by the Egyptian authorities along the borders with Gaza.

Redwan said during a meeting in Rafah’s Municipality that the saltwater moat is a chain in the series of disasters successively inflicted on Gaza’s southern province, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Thursday (8/10).

He said the Egyptian project will seriously affect Rafah’s ecosystem and demographic character.

“We will most probably be compelled to evacuate homes along the border fence so as to protect the lives of the inhabitants, who will be shocked soon as they catch sight of their own and only agricultural lands and properties falling apart,” the official said.

He warned of the serious upshots of the underway high-salinity moat on Gaza’s infrastructure and vital amenities, including sewage services and water drainage.

The Rafah Mayor called on the Egyptian authorities to backtrack on such a dangerous project due to the threats it poses to lives of Palestinians setting up roots along the Gaza-Egypt borders, along with the enclave’s fauna and flora.

In what observers branded an unprecedented move set to please the Israeli occupation, the Egyptian army forces have begun to pump water from the Mediterranean Sea into underground tunnels on the southern borders of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Blockaded by the Israeli regime since 2007, Gaza used to receive urgently-needed supplies through the network of underground tunnels on its border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Palestinians in Gaza are living under inhuman conditions due to the tough siege imposed by the Israeli occupation and also due to Egypt’s quasi-permanent closure of the Rafah border-crossing.(T/P008/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)