Rafah: the breach in the wall
is an act of freedom and a strong warning to the EU, the
Quartet and Egypt
Brussels, 23rd January
2008,
"The thousands of
Palestinians crossing the Rafah border point these last
hours, the breach in the wall and the breaking of the
siege decided by Israel against the civil population,
are all true acts of resistance and an affirmation of
the freedom of that people, not the Qassam rockets
being fired at
Israeli civilians that contravene international law, or
the bloodshed inflicted on the Palestinian civil
population perpetuated by Israeli raids.
When walls fall down there's
always a sense of freedom. The images we are getting
from southern Gaza, with men and women pouring into
Egypt in order to buy essential supplies such as food
and medicines that are nowhere to be found because of
four days of total closure and black out in the Gaza
Strip, are the natural result of the inhuman siege
imposed by Israel: as rightly declared by President
Mahmoud Abbas, the responsibility lies with Israeli
policy, which has forced people who are completely worn
out to cross the borders of the cage in which they are
imprisoned and collectively punished with complete
disregard for humanity and international law.
This is the predictable
outcome of a policy of isolation, not only towards Hamas,
but also the one and a half million Gaza inhabitants, a
policy that the European Union has also supported by
endorsing de facto the embargo decided by Israel. Hamas
risks to become stronger as a result of this situation,
not weaker as can be seen by all the demonstrations that
took place in the Islamic world during these cold and
dark days in Gaza.
People pouring into Egypt
and also people returning to Gaza after forced exile
bringing any kinds of goods, show all of us the tragedy
of a besieged but never resigned population, a
population that has seen women in the front line of the
demonstration struggling and being harshly repressed
yesterday: these are the non-violent actions that should
be supported and in which all Palestinians should gain
renewed strength and unity.
I hope they will not be used
by anyone to apply a definitive separation of Gaza and
the West Bank in what should be the Palestinian State
within the occupied territories of '67.
But for sure they are also a
warning for the International Community as a whole,
first and foremost the Quartet, the European Union and
Egypt, which are responsible for the transit of goods
and people through Rafah Crossing. Unfortunately, they
have never been able to accomplish this task.
I sincerely hope that Rafah
border crossing with Egypt will be immediately opened
and the legal freedom of movement for people and goods
be established, not the arbitrary closures by Israel.
Arms trafficking can be stopped without bombing and
without enclosing the population in an open-air prison.
I hope that Olmert's
government receives this message: only the end of the
Gaza siege, the end of the raids and of the military
occupation can guarantee security for both people and
the coherence needed for the respect of all commitments
to peace."
