Word: rafah
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...Obama wants," an Israeli official told Reuters. "But it's not going anywhere longer term ... With all due respect to Obama, this is not realistic. Everyone wants a process ... but nobody actually wants peace - because peace you have to pay for." (Read about the Gaza blockade and Egypt's Rafah Crossing...
Craig and Cindy Corrie, the parents of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, were also at Rafah Crossing that day, leading a delegation of nine Americans and one Canadian into Gaza to meet with local NGOs and attend the Rachel Corrie Ramadan Football Tournament. They spent two days phoning contacts in Cairo and negotiating with border officials before they were allowed to cross...
...made three previous trips to Gaza, said that when they visited the Strip for the first time, following their daughter's death, Craig Corrie was shot at by Israeli forces. "So in a very personal way, we witnessed that kind of violence," says Cindy Corrie, waiting at Rafah gate. "But there's another kind that has to do with squeezing people to such an extreme degree, I think with the intent of pushing people out, or at least pushing responsibility for those people to someplace else. And I think this border reflects that...
Getting through Rafah ultimately feels like a tremendous feat. Once on the other side, the bus pulls away from the Egyptian customs terminal, past Egyptian tanks, and into no-man's land before a sign welcomes you to Palestine. As the bus moved through the checkpoint, the Palestinians who had made it in began to applaud. They cheered and thanked God; others called relatives on their mobile phones. It was an emotional moment, yet paradoxical all the same, given that many might never be able to get back...
Richard Goldstone, author of the scathing U.N. report released this week, which accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during Operation Cast Lead last winter, also had to pass through Rafah to conduct his investigation in June. Israel had refused to cooperate with the mission, denying Goldstone, a South African Jew, and his team visas to enter the Jewish state. He, of course, got back out. But for the Palestinians on the inside, escaping through Rafah requires special permission. "The Egyptians only open it for humanitarian situations - sick people, students, and residents outside with foreign passports," says Issam Younis...