Palestinians blow up border wall, flood into Egypt

Nidal al-Mughrabi
Reuters
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday through a border wall destroyed by militants, and stocked up on food and fuel in short supply because of an Israeli blockade.

"Those people are hungry for freedom, for food and for everything," said an Egyptian shopkeeper who gave her name only as Hamida, surveying shelves emptied swiftly by Gazans paying with Egyptian pounds and Israeli shekels.

The fall of the Rafah wall punched a new hole in efforts by Israel, under frequent rocket attack from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, to keep pressure on the territory in the face of an international outcry over shortages and Palestinian hardship.

The flood of people into the Egyptian part of Rafah -- some on donkey carts and carrying bags and cases to fill with consumer goods -- also forced Israel into a delicate diplomatic balancing act with its first Arab peace partner.

Egypt proposed that it take a new look with Israel and the Palestinian Authority at how to reactivate their border agreement, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

Residents of Rafah, a divided town straddling the Egypt-Gaza border, said militants set off explosions that demolished a 200-metre (200-yard) length of the rusting, six-meter-high (20-foot-high) metal border wall put up by Israel in 2004, a year before it pulled troops and settlers from the territory.

As night fell, Palestinians, including entire families, continued to stream into the Egyptian side of Rafah. Local officials estimated at least 200,000 people crossed over in a rare opportunity to leave territory Gazans call a giant jail.

Pushing a trolley among the crowds that turned Rafah into a bazaar, Mohammed Saeed said: "I have bought everything I need for the house for months. I have bought food, cigarettes and even two gallons of diesel for my car."

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