Gazans face new Israel travel curbs
gaza city — New Israeli restrictions on Palestinians exiting the blockaded Gaza Strip, including a ban on laptop computers, hard-shell suitcases and even shampoo and toothpaste, have further disrupted travel for the lucky few who are allowed to cross the border into Israel.
Israel is citing unspecified security concerns as the reason for forcing engineers, journalists, business people and human rights workers to leave their electronic work tools behind. For those affected, the restrictions are unfair, inexplicable and mean new headaches in the struggles of daily life in Gaza.
“My work laptop that has all my work files that I can’t take back with me is a big problem for me,” said Ahmed Abu Shahla, an employee of an intellectual property firm in a Gulf country who was returning after visiting relatives in Gaza.
As he boarded a bus at the border, he was forced to leave his laptop behind. He said he didn’t bother to put his projects on flash drives because he feared they would be confiscated.
“My loss is high because you have to move all the data by email or any other means which is almost impossible,” he said. “This affects you in all directions, professionally, unfortunately.”
The ban, which took effect on August 1, applies to all Palestinians who want to travel to Israel, or through Israel to the West Bank and neighbouring Jordan. With Israel and Egypt maintaining a tight blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, the Erez crossing is virtually the only way out of the territory.
Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006. Israel says the blockade is needed to isolate Hamas and prevent it from smuggling in weapons.
Israel, accusing Hamas of trying to exploit travellers to carry money or information to its agents abroad, has imposed a series of restrictions in recent years that has limited the flow of people across the border.
Israel allows only small numbers of people in special categories, such as students, aid workers and medical patients, to cross through the border, and all travellers go through a heavily fortified terminal where they pass through scanners, can have their luggage opened and are subject to strip searches. In recent years, Israel also has called in hundreds of people for day-long “interviews” with security agents before granting them travel permits.
The restrictions mean that the vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million residents remain trapped in the impoverished territory.
The new Israeli guidelines, outlined in an email, set out strict restrictions on electronics, baggage and personal items. For Palestinian merchants, aid workers or travellers headed to Jordan, “personal mobile phones only, no foodstuff or toiletries allowed,” says the email. Food is also banned, except for medical patients that can take food for “personal consumption”.
The email was sent on July 19 to international aid organisations that operate in Gaza and was signed by an officer with COGAT, an Israeli defence body that enforces policies toward Palestinian civilians. An updated email next day showed that these procedures are applicable on people exiting Gaza, not entering it.
On Sunday, a Palestinian reporter for the AP was barred from bringing his laptop into Gaza. He was told that he would not be allowed to take it out of Gaza once he enters.
Foreigners were exempted from the restrictions.
COGAT said the new rules were ordered by Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service. In a short statement, the Shin Bet said travel regulations through Erez were updated recently and that exceptional cases can be tested “case by case”. The agency provided no reason for the ban.
Shai Grunberg, a spokeswoman for Gisha, an Israeli advocacy group pushing for Palestinian freedom of movement, said there was no clear explanation for the change in policy.
“Security checks are conducted, understandably, in transit stations around the world. This new directive is punitive, damaging, and must be stopped immediately,” she said.
The measures have caused an outcry among Palestinian too.
“These restrictions are aimed at harassing people and we reject them because Israel already has the best checking and security screening technology,” said Walid Wahdan, spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Affairs Ministry, which carries out civilian coordination with Israel. —