Pledges are broken as Palestinians cause chaos on frontier

PALESTINIANS flooded into Egypt yesterday amid chaotic scenes at Gaza’s southern border.

The chaos was in direct breach of Israel’s insistence that the frontier remain closed. If it continues, the Israeli government will come under pressure to send its troops back to a border they vacated only three days ago.

Before Israeli security forces completed their withdrawal from Gaza on Monday, Israel had been given assurances by the Palestinians and Egyptians that the border would be completely closed.

But yesterday hundreds of civilians were allowed to cross the frontier under the noses of security personnel who showed no interest in stopping them.

In the village of Rafah, which straddles the border with Egypt, hundreds of Gazans took the opportunity for a shopping spree in Egypt where prices for goods such as medicines are lower than in Gaza.

They slipped through holes cut in the six-foot high security fence or even climbed over it using ladders.

A policeman who gave his fi rst name as Mohammed, said: “People are jubilant. They have been living in a jail for a long time. We cannot stop them.’’

Palestinians met Egyptians coming in the other direction, crossing into Gaza out of curiosity or to see relatives whom they had been unable to visit for years when the border was policed by the Israeli security forces.

Money changers brought back stacks of Egyptian pounds to sell to Palestinians about to join the shopping spree.

Akram Hamdi, 35, was seen offering his arm to his wife Safaa to stop her stumbling over tracks left in the sand by Israeli tanks policing the border.

“She’s Egyptian,’’ he explained. “We got married six years ago but we never managed to get permission for her to come and join me. Now we’re going home.’’

Elsewhere in Gaza, a second day of looting threatened serious damage to the economy of the nascent Palestinian state.

Hothouses where Jewish farmers had earned millions by growing high-value vegetables and which were saved by international negotiators for Palestinian farmers to take over were plundered by looters.

Last night Mahmoud Abbas, the increasingly feeble leader of the Palestinian Authority, appealed on television for law and order in Gaza.

But the difficulties he faces were underlined by the radical Islamic movement Hamas. It drew tens of thousands into the streets of Gaza City to celebrate the Israeli withdrawal and warn of further attacks on Israel.

Israel has been worried that an open Egyptian-Gaza border would be abused by terrorists who would smuggle weapons and fighters into Gaza to attack Israel and the Israeli government was quick to respond yesterday.

“We have expressed our concern to both sides,’’ said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry.

The Palestinian Authority, which undertook to keep the Rafah border closed pending a long-term solution negotiated with Israel, said the border would be secured overnight by four national security battalions, around 1,200 men.

Colonel Jamal Kayed, the commander of national security in southern Gaza, said the border would be “hermetically sealed’’.