Another world is necessary

Under siege since 9 June 2007, the Palestinian people
of Gaza moved the world by breaking out and materially
reclaiming their stolen freedom of movement, rights to travel
to and from their country, and right to resist the illegal status
imposed on them through occupation since 1967 and
economic and near-total physical blockade since the
democratic election of Hamas in the legislative election
of January 2006.

The present siege, which began shortly after Hamas' takeover
of Gaza, led to a total collapse of the Gazan economy, as well as
an escalating humanitarian crisis affecting every aspect of life for
Palestinian residents of the world's most densely populated area,
including business, health care and sanitation, state of mind,
infrastructure and indeed survival itself. Israel's total blockade
that began one week before the popular disruption of the
siege led to total power blackouts, to the extent that the
UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, whose
role in providing assistance to 1948 refugees living in
Gaza is central for the provision and distribution
of goods including baby milk and basic foodstuffs,
was rendered almost incapable of continuing its work.
Where Gaza would have stood today without the act
of disruption that awed the world last week cannot be gauged --
without pushing the limits of our imagination beyond the
parameters of the worst plausible.

Under the 25 November 2005 agreement reached by Israel,
the European Union and the Palestinian Authority (PA) --
then in charge of the Gaza Strip -- and under the surveillance
of the United States, it was established that the PA would
take over from Israel to control entry into and exit from
Gaza of persons via the Rafah border terminal, with the EU
deploying monitors at the terminal. Owing to Israeli
interventionism, such as that exercised on and ever since
9 June 2007, the terminal was closed more often than it
was open, in contravention to the spirit of the 2005 agreement.
As of the election of Hamas in January 2006, the terminal was
closed 86 percent of the time, according to information
gathered by the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs.

Egypt was not a signatory to the agreement governing the
Rafah border terminal. Instead it was granted observer status,
which appeared to some high-ranking security officials bizarre
enough given that the agreement concerned an Egyptian border.
According to security sources, Egypt had expressed some
interest in having its status upgraded to that of signatory
when the agreement was renewed. This renewal was set
to take place in 2006; however, it never did, owing to
Israeli postponement.

Thus the precise details of Egypt's role in maintaining the
blockade of Gaza have through much of the duration of the
siege remained murky. For the most comfortable of analyses,
all that was publicly known was that Israel instigated the
closure of the terminals leading in and out of the Gaza Strip,
and that the closure was supported by PA President
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who criminally enough
believed that Hamas would lose popularity to his advantage
if the people of Gaza were progressively starved. Meanwhile
Egypt's grassroots, Cairo-based human rights organizations
remained conspicuously silent for months, for the most part
speaking out only when Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip
became total, by which time fear of reprimand from the
notorious state security services was overwhelmed by the
absolute rejection of the continuous suffering of fellow
Arabs in Gaza. Only the Muslim Brotherhood-run Doctors'
Syndicate remained active throughout the seven months of
illegal collective punishment faced by the Palestinians of
Gaza, and even then on a principally humanitarian level.
Only in the time nearing the Palestinians' act of disruption
last week did Cairo see mass action, the most notable example of
which was a protest before the headquarters of the Arab League
in the heart of the Arab world's most populous capital, organized
by the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition parties.
Hundreds of people were arrested during and prior to the protest.

On the state level, even though it had been Israel and the PA which
had created the humanitarian and political crisis in Gaza, Egypt could
conceivably have unilaterally ended it. Under international law,
given the illegality of the siege, Egypt had an obligation to act,
an obligation to which it failed to fulfill. Under the Fourth Geneva
Convention, to which Egypt is a High Contracting Party, parties
are obliged "to respect and ensure respect" for all the provisions
contained, including the criminalization of collective punishment
(Article 33). No doubt, the besiegement of Gaza as a pressure
mechanism to turn the Palestinian civilian population against
Hamas constitutes, at the very least, collective punishment.

However, if there remained any shred of doubt that Egypt could
have done more to interrupt the siege, then recent days' events
have helped establish an even more glaring understanding of the
role of Cairo. "To Egypt the disruption of the siege came as a
surprise, and under growing pressure from the population and
particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, it was impossible for the
regime in Cairo to put an immediate end to the flow of
Palestinians to and from Gaza," said director of the Addameer
human rights group in Gaza Khalil Abu Shammala. Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak "tried to capitalize on the events,
by issuing statements that would paint Egypt in a more
humanitarian light and thus to persuade opposition that
the regime was doing its part in support of the Palestinians
of Gaza. It was foolish, however, on the part of the regime
to think that simply allowing Palestinians exit into Egypt for
a few days would rid Egypt of its responsibility towards the
Palestinians under the present conditions. Much, much more
needs to be done. Egypt has to actively end its participation
in the siege," Abu Shammala added.

But within five days of the disruption of the siege of Gaza,
the deployment of Central Security Forces to north Sinai,
particularly from al-Arish to Rafah, had been massively
intensified. While initial attempts to close down the border were
thwarted following clashes with armed Hamas members, later
attempts were rendered impossible by the sheer fury of
Palestinian civilians, who threw stones in the spirit of
self-defense from renewed imprisonment by the simplest
means at their disposal. Meanwhile, it was reported less
than a week on from the popular outbreak that up to
3,000 Palestinians were detained by the Egyptian authorities
as the campaign to prohibit the entry of Gazans without visas
escalated. In addition, there were daily reports of the authorities
prohibiting the entry into Sinai of Egyptian human rights and
political campaigners from across the political spectrum as they
brought with them medicines and supplies in demonstration of
solidarity with the people of Gaza.

At the time of writing, such had been the forcefulness of
the Egyptian regime's effort to expel the remaining
Palestinians and to prevent any new entry that very few
managed to remain in Sinai one week on from the initial
outbreak. Barring approximately 1,000 Palestinians who
set up camp by the Security Headquarters in al-Arish in an
attempt to secure visas and thus acquire legal means to
remain in Egypt, or to travel to third countries where they
work or study, most Gaza residents had returned home,
ready to face a renewed closure up until the time that new
arrangements for the border are reached.

Perhaps a total defeat of the natural and legal act of struggle
against siege, poverty, occupation and death that the
Palestinians of Gaza demonstrated over the past week is
precisely what the Israelis and their allies in Washington and
peace partners in Cairo would desire most. However,
gauging from the mood in Gaza, that they would secure
such a result in the long run is unlikely. First off, according
to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, "It would be absurd
to suggest that Hamas would open the border only to then
close it again. The destruction of the border is not intended
solely to give Palestinians temporary relief, but essentially to
work towards negotiations for a solution that would end the
siege once and for all."

Meanwhile, on the streets the effects of the disruption of the
siege extend far beyond a mere re-injection of economic life
into Gaza, to the lifting of Palestinian confidence in struggle.
"What has been made clear by this single action is that no
matter how dark the abandonment by the entire world has
been of the Palestinian people, the people can still take the
initiative to secure their freedom," said Emad Abu Mohamed,
one refugee resident of Gaza City. "There can be no going
back from here." Insofar as the action raised the spirits of the
people of Gaza, it also re-directed the focus of a people who
have seen fierce factional rivalry and bloodshed to the occupation,
which is the origin of the problem, said Mohammed Dahman,
a Gaza-based journalist. "The whole of Gaza celebrated the
outbreak in unity, and in so doing proved that the rivalries
are superficial," Dahman added.

The immensity of the overwhelmingly peaceful movement of
Palestinians in and out of north Sinai indicated that another
reality is possible and indeed necessary in the Arab world.
Occupation in Palestine cannot be successfully challenged if
the Arab world does not wake up to the fact that anything but
more actions of a similarly massive, popular nature are not
encouraged. Acceptance of a continued oppression of Arab
popular movements is tantamount to acceptance of Israel's
siege of Gaza. Under international law, nothing short of full
Egyptian cooperation at the state level with the people of
Gaza will do. And it was precisely this sort of cooperation that
Hamas called for, using last week's outbreak as a state-of-the-
art pressure card to ensure it, alongside the promise of greater
economic influence in the Gaza Strip. "We are looking to end
Gaza's economic ties to Israel, and for Egypt to step in to take
over," Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said.

Now given that Cairo has already turned down Hamas overtures
to take control of the border, and that Hamas has rejected
proposals for an international presence at Rafah, and granted
that Cairo's relations with Washington have long been unequal
to the effect that it is safe to say that the present regime survives
because it is supported by the world's only superpower, it
remains to be seen just where the unfolding crisis will lead.
There is no doubt that the short-term economic advantage
of maintaining ties with Washington over developing a
longer-term strategy involving the Palestinian people, who
are determined to emerge victorious over occupation,
appears more beneficial to Cairo. However, what is clear
is that, as is the case every minute of every day within
Egyptian jurisdiction ever since the signing of the Camp
David Peace Treaty in 1978, there is a fundamental
discord between what the vast majority of the people
of Egypt really want, and what power has imposed on
them. Given the reality of power distribution in the Arab
world, it is not yet the time to imagine that the crisis will
lead to an immediate settlement that will aptly meet the
requirements of the people of Gaza. But what the surprise
disruption of the siege, involving the instantaneous, physical
realization of what has been the dream of millions of human
beings the world over for hundreds of years -- namely the
downfall of borders and the victory of the people over brutality
and oppression -- indicates, is that it is necessary to think
beyond the limits of the mundane. This was a lesson learned not
only by the Gazans, but also no doubt by hundreds of thousands
of Arabs who watched in awe at the spontaneous creativity of
their brothers and sisters, the Palestinians.

Serene Assir is a Beirut and Cairo-based
independent journalist and blogger.