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From 1949 until 1967 the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian rule.
During those years it was possible to travel by train or by car from
Cairo to Gaza through the Sinai Peninsula; traveling to and from
Gaza was subject to a permit issued by the Egyptian security
authorities. The Gaza Strip was declared a closed military area in
1967, following the Israeli military occupation, and travel out of
the Strip became dependent on the approval of the Israeli military
commander. In 1982, when Israeli troops withdrew from the Sinai
peninsula, the Rafah crossing was opened under Israeli control.2
Over time it became increasingly difficult to obtain a permit to
cross Erez, and since 2000 it has been virtually impossible for the
overwhelming majority of Palestinians to obtain a permit to cross
the Israeli border.3 Thus the Rafah border with Egypt has long been
the only practicable – if remote – possibility to travel out of Gaza.
Following the September 2005 disengagement of Israeli forces from
the Gaza Strip – which also removed the Israeli military presence
from the Egyptian-Palestinian border – on 15 November 2005
Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) signed the Agreement
on Movement and Access (AMA). The agreement was mediated
by the US and the EU. Egypt is not a party to agreement nor was
it an official party to the negotiations (although it participated in
the works). According to the AMA: "Rafah will be operated by the
Palestinian Authority on its side and Egypt on its side, according
to international standards". The PA's work, on the Palestinian side
of the border, is placed under the supervision of the EU.
On paper, the AMA was intended to "give the Palestinian people
freedom to move, trade, live normal lives" and to grant the PA
control over entry and exit from its territory.4 However, contrary to
the declarations, the agreement was never properly implemented,
and the PA was not allowed control over exit and entry from and
into the Gaza Strip. Israel continued to exert its control over the
operation of the Rafah crossing in a number of ways:
i. The crossing was frequently closed by Israel due to incidents
unrelated to the crossing itself; following the capture of the
Israeli soldier Shalit, on 25 June 2006 Israel closed the Rafah
border. In that year, until June 2007 when the agreement was
indefinitely suspended, Rafah was closed for 265 days.
ii. Crossing through Rafah is only permitted for holders of
Palestinian IDs, i.e. individuals registered in the Palestinian
population registry.
iii. Through its control of the Palestinian population registry,
Israel continues to indirectly determine who is allowed to
cross Rafah (many residents of Gaza have been unable to
obtain IDs and so cannot travel);
iv. Israel retained the power to prevent the passage of Palestinians
on the basis of "security grounds" and to veto the passage of
foreigners.5 In principle foreigners (i.e. not carrying Palestinian
ID or passport) are not allowed to enter Gaza through Egypt
but need to obtain an Israeli entrance visa and Israeli permit
to cross Erez. The agreement lists exceptional categories of
foreign nationals allowed to enter the Gaza Strip through
Rafah: diplomats, foreign investors, employees of international
organizations, humanitarian workers and foreign journalists.
With regard to such travelers, according to the terms of the
AMA, the PA must inform Israel in advance: it is Israel that de
facto makes the final decision on the entry to Gaza through the
Rafah crossing of these categories of persons.
In June 2007 Israel announced the freezing of the crossing agreement.
Since June 2007 the people of Gaza have been effectively denied access
to the outside world both from Erez and Rafah crossings. Although
since June 2010 the Egyptian authority has declared the opening of the
Rafah crossing, traveling to and from Egypt remains an exceptional
case for the local population. In fact the coordination with the Egyptian
authorities, which was already difficult in the past, became de facto
impossible after 2007 and it continues to be almost impossible to travel
without some sort of "special coordination" (i.e. personal connection). Cars
are not allowed to cross the Rafah border. This affects patients traveling for medical reasons, who are often in very serious health conditions, as all travelers have to cross as pedestrians organized in a complex and inconvenient system of collective buses.
