Palestinians feel the effects of Egyptian security policies

After the attack that killed 31 soldiers in the north Sinai city of El-Arish on 24 October, the Egyptian authorities ordered the creation of a buffer zone along the 13km border with the Gaza Strip. Egypt’s army has waged an offensive against militant groups whose presence has increased in the neglected Sinai since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi. The buffer zone aims to stop the smuggling of weapons and people from Gaza, which the authorities blame for the increase in terror attacks. Tunnels under the border, claim the Egyptians, are used by militants not only to smuggle weapons, but also to provide shelter and logistical support against the army.

The media and army officers accuse the militants of being linked to groups within Gaza. Indeed, they say that Palestinians, especially members of Hamas, have been meddling in Egypt’s internal affairs through support for “terrorists” in Sinai. The claims have been denied. The tunnels, insist the Palestinians, have been used to break the Israeli-led siege by taking goods into rather than out of Gaza.

The buffer zone will be 1km wide to cover the network of tunnels. Despite this, attacks have continued in the area. On November 13, two police conscripts and three soldiers were shot dead in an attack which resembled those carried out by Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis.

Around 800 homes have been demolished by the authorities to create the buffer zone; 1,100 families have been evicted, having been given just 48 hours’ notice to find alternative accommodation and move their belongings.

The zone cuts through crowded neighbourhoods on the Egyptian side of the town of Rafah and has created turmoil for residents. The town is already split along both sides of the border. The people of Rafah and Gaza as a whole have become the victims of wider regional problems.

The coup that deposed the Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi has led to increased pressure on Hamas and the Gaza Strip and an intensification of Egypt’s cooperation with Israel, especially in the Sinai. Nominally, this has been said to be to create stability in the area.

Egypt is reluctant to allow humanitarian aid and the supply of other essential goods through the Rafah Border Crossing, which could send a message of support for Hamas; Cairo blames the movement for the current situation. The creation of the buffer zone has accompanied the closure of the crossing in order to exert pressure on the people of Gaza. It was closed on 24 October and more than 35,000 Palestinians are stranded at the crossing.

This comes at a time when the besieged territory most needs external support such as construction materials, food, fuel and medical supplies. Over the past year, Egypt has destroyed much of the network of smuggling tunnels that connected the two sides of Rafah; Egypt claims that it has destroyed 1,200 tunnels. Along with the building of the buffer zone, it has contributed hugely to disturbing normal life and the economic livelihood of Rafah on both sides of the border.

It is estimated that the tunnels used to meet about 60 per cent of Gaza’s needs in raw materials; the crossings from Israeli account for only 35-50 per cent. By late 2010, large commercial tunnels were estimated to be shifting up to 170 metric tons of raw materials each per day, according to UN estimates.

Following the crackdown on the tunnels, the Gaza minister of the economy estimated in January that millions of dollars’ worth of business has been lost, particularly in the construction industry. There has been a reported 46 per cent reduction in the import of basic food products since July 2013.

The recent Israeli offensive compounded the problems. The destruction of vital infrastructure such as water systems, health services and housing has led to an increasingly severe humanitarian crisis. Even so, the Israelis have tightened the siege by closing vital crossings.

Construction materials, fuel, food and medical supplies necessary for the reconstruction of Gaza have been designated by Israel as “dual use” items and supplies have been limited to the UN and aid agencies under Israeli supervision. International NGOs have protested about the blockade’s prevention of free movement and trade as a form of collective punishment.

According to UNOCHA in September, the Kerem Shalom Crossing allowed 5,587 truckloads into Gaza. The commercial side of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt in September allowed 155 truckloads. This is a reduction of around 40 per cent from the monthly average in 2007 coming from Israel alone. SInce the first week of July, more than 600 truckloads of building materials and other goods have been prevented from using the Rafah crossing for reasons unknown.

According to Gisha legal centre, the reduction in the supply of goods is not enough to meet the estimated 3.5 million tons of construction materials needed to repair just the most recent damage.

As a strategically important border town, Rafah has witnessed a lengthy history of disturbances. After 1948, refugee camps were established to deal with the huge number of Palestinians displaced by the creation of Israel. Israeli forces massacred 111 civilians there in 1956 and during the 1967 Six-Day War the Israel Defence Forces captured Rafah along with the Sinai Peninsular and the Gaza Strip. In 1971 the IDF under General Ariel Sharon destroyed around 500 houses that displaced 4,000 people within Rafah to make way for patrol roads.

After the 1978 Camp David peace treaty with Egypt, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula and Rafah was split into two along the border. Under the treaty, a 100-metre wide strip of land known as the Philadelphia corridor was established as a buffer zone along the border, razing some 1,500 homes within the town.

Since 2004, the Israeli occupation authorities have demolished over 1,300 homes in the densely-populated area. Over 16,000 people have been made homeless, especially with the creation of Israel’s own buffer zone, an empty border area that it uses to maintain its surveillance over Gaza. It has been justified by the existence of tunnels and attacks against the military.

This destruction has entailed disruption to whole neighbourhoods regardless of the threat they actually pose. The patrol corridor encroached progressively on homes, which would then justify the need for further demolitions to maintain secure zones. Neighbourhoods were also subject to regular and indiscriminate machine-gun fire from Israeli forces, according to Human Rights Watch. The damage done to Rafah’s infrastructure, agricultural land and private properties throws into question Israel’s motives.

After the election of Hamas in 2006, both Israel and Egypt designated Gaza to be “hostile territory” and cooperated in tougher security measures along their borders. Israel imposed an economic blockade that entailed closing the Erez and Karni crossings used for the movement of people and goods, banning all but seven categories of humanitarian supplies. A reinforced seven-metre high wall was built along the Rafah border. The sudden division of Rafah and the economic blockade necessitated the creation of tunnels under the border to connect divided families and to smuggle goods to the besieged Gaza Strip. Since 2007 the Rafah crossing has been closed frequently by Egypt, further dividing neighbourhoods on the two sides of the town.

Rafah’s population has suffered most from the wider conflict within the region and Egypt’s security polices. On the Egyptian side too, the population of north Sinai suffer from the mistrust of the Cairo government, harassment from the military, discrimination and economic deprivation. In the past few months it has been subject to curfews, military offensives and the recent imposition of emergency rule that has affected thousands of civilians.

The increasingly authoritarian tactics employed by the Egyptian authorities within the Sinai as part of Egypt’s “war on terror” have contributed to suffocating the territory. It may prove difficult for Rafah and the Gaza Strip to recover from the halt in an estimated $700 million worth of goods smuggled annually and the severing of the vital Rafah crossing. This may prove to be especially problematic for the people of Gaza at a time when they most need viable channels for the supply of essential goods.

Egypt is shirking its responsibility to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Its measures are also likely to continue to ferment anger in the northern Sinai.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.