Celebration mixed with tragedy on the first day of Palestinian control of Gaza, as thousands swarmed through abandoned Jewish settlements while others scaled the walls between Gaza and Egypt in both directions, raising Israeli concerns about whether Palestinian and Egyptian security can control the territory and its border.
Uncontrolled elation led to excesses on Monday, drawing criticism from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Four people drowned in the Mediterranean after Palestinians flocked to the long-forbidden beach. Another Palestinian died during gunfire at the sensitive Egypt-Gaza border, where all semblance of order broke down.
Concerned about the potential for weapons smuggling, Israel initially hesitated to leave the Gaza-Egypt border as part of the pullout. It agreed only after the Egyptian government promised to deploy 750 troops on the frontier to stop the smuggling.
PHOTO: EPA
But the border turned to chaos just hours after the Israelis withdrew early on Monday. Hundreds of Palestinians climbed over -- or went around -- the towering border wall on the Gaza side and then jumped over the low wall on the Egyptian side. Hooded Palestinian gunmen stood atop the Palestinian wall.
Guards later shot and killed one Palestinian when dozens of teens tried to climb over the border, Palestinian security officials said.
Raising a flag at the Rafah border crossing, Abbas scolded his celebrating people.
"It is absolutely unacceptable for the border to be stormed," Abbas said. "We must resolve this problem in a civilized manner."
Important issues lie ahead for both sides, including a decision over who will control the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt and whether Gaza will be allowed to open a seaport and airport, providing it unfettered links to the outside world. Israel retains control of Gaza's airspace and coastal waters.
On Monday, the Israeli regional army commander, Major General Dan Harel, signed an order canceling Israeli military rule in Gaza.
Control of the border was seen as a first test for the Palestinian Authority's rule over Gaza and Egypt's ability to control the border. Several trucks filled with armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad gunmen patrolled the border road on Monday. Few Palestinian police could be seen.
Though some Egyptian soldiers warned the Palestinians to stay on their side of the wall, many smiled and shook hands with teenagers who climbed over. One Gazan unsuccessfully tried to buy an Egyptian soldier's rifle.
There was some traffic in the other direction as well, as Egyptians climbed into Gaza. Many of those climbing over the border were boys smuggling cartons of cigarettes into Gaza.
Egyptian border guards said they were letting the Palestinians blow off steam and visit relatives on the Egyptian side that they have not seen in years.
But they said that they would tighten security in the coming days.
Israel expressed its concern to the Egyptians, according to an Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Egypt has to prevent weapons smuggling at the Philadelphi corridor," Israeli lawmaker Ephraim Sneh told Israel Radio on Tuesday. "This is their test and this is how they will be judged. We didn't bring them there for anything else."
TIT-FOR-TAT: The arrest of Filipinos that Manila said were in China as part of a scholarship program follows the Philippines’ detention of at least a dozen Chinese The Philippines yesterday expressed alarm over the arrest of three Filipinos in China on suspicion of espionage, saying they were ordinary citizens and the arrests could be retaliation for Manila’s crackdown against alleged Chinese spies. Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos and accused them of working for the Philippine National Security Council to gather classified information on its military, the state-run China Daily reported earlier this week, citing state security officials. It said the three had confessed to the crime. The National Security Council disputed Beijing’s accusations, saying the three were former recipients of a government scholarship program created under an agreement between the
Sitting around a wrestling ring, churchgoers roared as local hero Billy O’Keeffe body-slammed a fighter named Disciple. Beneath stained-glass windows, they whooped and cheered as burly, tattooed wresters tumbled into the aisle during a six-man tag-team battle. This is Wrestling Church, which brings blood, sweat and tears — mostly sweat — to St Peter’s Anglican church in the northern England town of Shipley. It is the creation of Gareth Thompson, a charismatic 37-year-old who said he was saved by pro wrestling and Jesus — and wants others to have the same experience. The outsized characters and scripted morality battles of pro wrestling fit
ACCESS DISPUTE: The blast struck a house, and set cars and tractors alight, with the fires wrecking several other structures and cutting electricity An explosion killed at least five people, including a pregnant woman and a one-year-old, during a standoff between rival groups of gold miners early on Thursday in northwestern Bolivia, police said, a rare instance of a territorial dispute between the nation’s mining cooperatives turning fatal. The blast thundered through the Yani mining camp as two rival mining groups disputed access to the gold mine near the mountain town of Sorata, about 150km northwest of the country’s administrative capital of La Paz, said Colonel Gunther Agudo, a local police officer. Several gold deposits straddle the remote area. Agudo had initially reported six people killed,
SUSPICION: Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing returned to protests after attending a summit at which he promised to hold ‘free and fair’ elections, which critics derided as a sham The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen to more than 3,300, state media said yesterday, as the UN aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation. The quake on Friday last week flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, new figures published by state media showed. More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses. A UN estimate
RSS