- RAFAH -- Akram Abu Elouf's
leg was blown apart by an Israeli bullet fired from a watch tower half
a mile away as he led his two children upstairs to their home. Doctors
patched together his thigh bone with nine metal pins but he needs further
extensive surgery in Egypt if he is to walk again.
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- But Mr Abu Elouf was told that he could not cross the
checkpoint from Rafah in the the Gaza Strip to Egypt because of the metal
in his body. So two weeks ago, he had the pins removed.
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- For the vast majority of Gazans, the checkpoint at Rafah
is their only exit to the outside world. Some want to leave for medical
treatment, education and jobs; some are returning to their lives elsewhere
after visiting family in Gaza.
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- Thousands crowd around the border for days, waiting for
an opportunity to leave. Men between the ages of 16 and 35 and anyone with
metal inside their body are forbidden permission to cross.
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- Israel routinely bans the movement of young men on the
grounds that they are the most likely group to be involved in militant
activity although only a small per centage of Palestinians are involved
in violence. The ban on people with metal parts dates from a suicide bombing
in January. Rim Saleh el Riashi, approached security gates at Gaza's Erez
crossing claiming she had a metal plate in her leg that was setting off
the metal detector. When they allowed her to pass she blew herself up killing
four people.
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- The Israeli organisation, Physicians for Human Rights,
recently issued a report detailing the bureaucratic maze people must go
through to be allowed permission to leave. Even after securing permission,
the report states, many Palestinians are refused passage for arbitrary
and nonsensical reasons.
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- The report particularly criticises Israel for the ban
on young men and people with metal in their bodies leaving Gaza.
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- Shabtai Gold, a spokesman for PHR said: "It is collective
punishment to prevent all men aged 16-35 and people with metal implants
from leaving. It is illegal and we are completely against it.
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- "If Israel requires prior coordination to allow
people passage that's fine. But it should not delay people getting health
care," he said.
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- A spokesman for the Israeli army denied there was a ban
on people with metal implants crossing the border. He said that they were
processing applications for exit from 13 people with metal implants to
leave Gaza but described the process as "lengthy".
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- He added that the army had lifted its requirement for
medical patients to seek prior approval before travelling for treatment.
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- Mr Abu Elouf, 34, said he was shot on February 9 by a
high-calibre bullet fired from a watch tower. His home and those of his
brothers in the same block are splattered with bullet holes.
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- "There was no reason for it. We live in this border
area and there is shooting day and night. They know that we are a peaceful
family but I don't think that matters," he said.
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- After 70 days in hospital, his doctors tried to arrange
for further treatment abroad as Gaza only has a rudimentary health service.
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- "I received a lot of assistance from Israeli and
international human rights groups but even they could not help me. It was
clear that the only way to deal with the problem was to have the pins removed
in another operation," he said.
-
- Next month, he will begin the process to get permission
to go to Egypt. He knows there is no guarantee of success.
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- At the Rafah crossing point, Khalik Hajaj, 41, a teacher
at Al Azhar University in Gaza City, was hopeful of making it across. "I
have been here each day for four days from 5am to around 2pm. I want to
visit a university in Bahrain. I think I might get through today,"
he said.
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- None of the thousands of people milling around in the
sun paid any attention to the sound of shooting in the distance and the
dust clouds which signalled the movement of tanks around Rafah.
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- Mwafa Alfarra, 32, said his American wife had their first
child three months ago but he had not been able to leave. He forlornly
waved a copy of the fax his wife sent to the Israeli prime minister but
the Palestinian officials tell him no men under 35 are allowed to cross.
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- Mohammad Sharafi, the civilian head of the border crossing,
said a massive backlog had arisen after Israel closed the border for three
weeks.
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- "But the the biggest problem now is that the Israelis
have banned all men under 35 from leaving Gaza. Most of those who want
to leave are students who are enrolled in universities abroad or those
who work abroad but came to Gaza to visit their families. "Many have
residency visas in other countries which are due to expire. The jobs of
many will have been given to other people.
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- "The other new problem is the banning of people
with any metal in their bodies from crossing the border. Yesterday the
Israelis sent back an old woman, she must have been about 80 years old
because she had a piece of metal in her body," he said.
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- "The Israelis want to make sure that anyone who
leaves has such a hard time, they will think twice about coming back to
Gaza."
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1287020,00.html
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