My Near Escape from the World’s Largest Mousetrap

By Hanitizer

I and more than fifteen American Citizens have now been stuck in Gaza for several weeks now. Three week, the Egyptian government kindly permitted the local Gaza government to send in some Palestinians to travel through the Rafah crossing, the only outlet Palestinians in Gaza have into the world since Israel began its crushing siege of the strip.

In 2007 and after the Hamas takeover, the Egyptian government joined Israel to keep the Rafah crossing shut. Ever since then, they only opened the crossing three days every about 40 days. The crossing that used to process 3000 travelers a day now only allows 3000 thousand travelers every 40 days. You can imagine the desperation of people who can leave – those lucky few with foreign travel documents who have a country that will accept them. Gaza is a destitute and embargoed land, not the kind of place you stay in if you do not have to.

To facilitate the travel when there are more travelers than Egypt will allow, the Gaza government registers and tries to schedule departures from Gaza. For example, the first day of border opening is almost always kept exclusively for patients seeking medical attention. The days after are reserved for those with foreign passports and permanent residency in various countries. Most Palestinians are stuck in Gaza with no chance of being able to travel.

The Egyptian government argues that the Rafah crossing would be open if the Palestinians solve their internal rift and agree to work together instead of undermining each other. This is collective punishment and it undermines the right of humans to mobility. What do I have to do with their political deadlock?

My frustration was heightened by my last attempt to leave.

The list of those seeking travel extended to 15 thousand travelers before I could get on. So, when I signed up to be put on a bus out of Gaza, I was told that I have to wait maybe up to six months. When Hamas announced the names of travelers through their website, I wasn’t surprised my name was not there.

On the second day of the crossing opening, the Gaza government opened registration for people with foreign passports. Thanks to my persistence and luck, I was able to get my name on the list, even though I only have an American Green Card.

The Hamas government was promised that the Egyptians would add an extra day to allow those foreign nationals to travel out of Gaza. When those names were announced, my name was put on bus 12 (out of 16 buses), which meant there was a chance I might not et to travel on the designated day.

To the Palestinians in Gaza, the Egyptian officers at the Rafah Crossing are notorious for their arbitrariness. They would close the gate if something “bothers them” For example, when the Palestinians sent a family with Palestinian passports but permanent residency in Sweden, the Egyptians grew angry and slowed down the process to a halt. Thus, the Palestinian government has no choice be to filter potential travelers and only send those they think the Egyptians won’t send back.

Egypt knows this does little good for Hamas’s standing in Gaza. Can you imagine the anger an average Palestinian has for the Hamas government when they tell him or her they cannot travel?

I was one of those travelers that Palestinian government sent back to Gaza instead of putting me on the bus to go to the Egyptian side – where I would face scrutiny as well.

Just to get to the point of rejection at the crossing, I had to endure a painful travel day. On the day my name was placed on the travel list, I had to wake up at 4 AM and head to the Stadium of Palestine in Gaza City where the buses leave from.

I arrived at the stadium right before they started loading the first three buses. The scene was shocking. Mobs of families and travelers hoping swarmed the buses. The first three buses were loaded in an orderly fashion, but by 9 AM the officers of the local government began to lose control of the process and asked for reinforcements.

At that point there was a lot of confusion and chaos.

With backup, the local authorities put five armed policemen to stop people not on the list from traveling.

People frustrated with this process also feared to be cheated. They outnumbered the armed officers. Before I could see what would happen, I an another young man snuck onto a bus through the window.

The 50 passenger-bus carried eighty of us. Rafah is a 45 minutes ride from where I was. The overcrowded but was as steamy as a sauna.

Upon arrival to the Rafah gate, the Palestinian officers sorted travelers and banned those who do not have papers. Somehow I got beyond this check.

In the next line, in a unit the Palestinians call the “GTV”, we were again sorted. They check documents again. After seeing my American issued residency card, they let me on the bus to head toward the station where the passports will be stamped by the local Palestinian government.

There, I wasn’t able to get a stamp since I had a residency card and a Palestinian travel document, which was really good-for-nothing. They denied me the right to leave, loaded me into a truck with several other rejects and took us back to the first point in the crossing.

I had to walk a long distance to find a taxi to take me back to the city.

It was very frustrating and painful. And the ride home was not much better. A smoker burnt my hand on accident. A young girl complained of a pain in the stomach. When I gave her water, she puked all over my pants and bag.

By the time I got home, I had a bad heat stroke, and a nasty tan.

Many had it worse. Palestinian families who sought to travel were separated. In one case, a dad who has permanent residency in Romania could not travel with his children and his Romanian wife.

A mom with a Palestinian citizenship could not join her kids and husband who hold the Jordanian nationality.

A newlywed couple had to be divided because the bride has a Palestinian travel document while the husband has a Swedish one.

Still, others paid the exist fee and got cleared from the Palestinian side only to have the Egyptian side close the gate for the day, leaving them in national limbo.

This is where the Israeli-Egyptian siege on Gaza is most brutal. Forget the shortage of food, they are getting high carb food into Gaza. Although Gaza is struggling to clear unexploded Israeli ordinance from the Gaza invasion earlier this year, there is no active bombing or fighting now.

What they do not have in Gaza is an essential human need: the freedom of movement.

As my Dad jokes about Gaza, “Welcome to the world’s biggest Mouse Trap.”