The New York Times-20080125-More Business Than Pleasure for Hurried Palestinians
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More Business Than Pleasure for Hurried Palestinians
There was less joy than frenzy on Thursday at this border crossing, as Gazans and Gaza businessmen hurried to stock up while they still could.
The Egyptians would not allow cars or trucks in from Gaza, only carts drawn by animals, so the area between the Gaza fence and the Egyptian border, known as the Philadelphi route -- which had been so carefully patrolled by the Israeli Army before it withdrew -- became an informal parking lot. There were traffic jams under the broken, bent metal and concrete barriers, and food stalls dotted the area, selling hard candy, sugared doughnuts, beans and nuts.
Boys carried on their shoulders large boxes of cartons of cigarettes to be resold by the businessmen who sent them to Egypt. Carts were loaded with bags of cement, Chinese-made generators, foam mattresses and Nautica-brand televisions. Women in black niqabs, long cloaks and scarves showing only their eyes, carried large, colorful bags of potato chips and Egyptian-made snack cakes.
And many Gazans simply wanted to buy fresh milk and feta cheese and fill canisters with diesel fuel, gasoline, motor oil and cooking oil. Some bought the cement needed to make concrete for sealing the graves of their loved ones, which they have had to try to protect with paving stones, metal and boards.
Egyptian businessmen sharply raised prices on Thursday, with a generator selling in Cairo for $300 being sold here for $600, said Tawfiq Nofal, a businessman who complained that transport companies were also raising their prices to bring goods to Rafah. People are buying, but not as we expected, he said. Our largest aim now is the Palestinian businessmen.
A little over four gallons of diesel fuel costs almost $19, compared with just under $15 a long walk away in El Arish, complained one man, Hamid Kahlout. Of course they're exploiting us, he said. Everyone is playing with us. Some Egyptians complained that the local market was nearly empty.
The call to prayer was ignored as the shopping and gawking continued. Azza Kamel and her cousins were thrilled, going to the wedding of a relative who was engaged a year ago to a man from Egyptian Rafah. The wedding had to wait for the crossing to open; now it was suddenly on. Ms. Kamel said she and her family support Fatah, which Hamas routed from Gaza last year. But they are grateful to Hamas for this chance. Fatah still exists, she said. But Hamas has eaten everything.
Muhammad Gaber, director of patient services at the European Gaza Hospital in Rafah, said he thought the border might stay open another five days or so, to provide temporary relief to Gazans. After that, the Egyptians will have to work with Hamas or maybe the European Union to reorganize the crossing, he said. But politically, Mubarak can't put Gazans back into the same prison, he added, referring to the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak.
The situation has changed, he said. The pressure on Gaza from Israel has to be lifted.
