The call was for a ‘Third Intifada’ and thousands of Palestinians and neighboring Arabs responded as the change in the region promises hope for Palestine. While dictators are being challenged, and sometimes toppled by the citizens of their nations, Palestinians are finding more confidence and stronger support.
Throughout the Egyptian revolution that began on Jan 25th, the people’s demands were a few, but specific targeting the former president Hosni Mubarak and his regime, pushing for democracy and an end to corruption. Since the people successfully toppled their former president, they continued to push for change with the list of internal national demands increasing by the week. Soon enough, in the symbolic Tahrir Square where the activists promise the revolution will live on, Palestinian flags started popping up waving beside the hundreds of black, white and red Egyptian flags.
The adrenaline-rushed euphoric revolutionary spirit found in city squares and national unions are simultaneously standing in solidarity with their Arab brothers. The people aren’t just interested in justice within their borders, but equally in reclaiming their nation’s once leading role in the Arab World. The Egyptian youth seem to be willing to take their solidarity with their Palestinian brothers to a higher, more significant level that has been absent for 30 years under Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
To commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (or day of catastrophe) – when Israel was declared an independent state and thousands of Palestinians were massacred, hundreds of thousands expelled from their homeland and villages completely leveled – organized non-violent actions were planned in order to apply pressure on Israel. In Egypt, activists planned to march to the Gaza Strip by the millions.
The evening of May 15th, I stood on the Egyptian side Rafah border town. The sun set over the Mediterranean Sea and the call to prayer echoed loud on both sides of this rather quiet border crossing, just as it has done for the last four years. The Gaza Strip remained in visual site. SMS messages from the Palestinian mobile provider, Jawwal greeted anyone near the border of Gaza. “Marhaba, Smell the jasmine and taste the olives. JAWWAL welcomes you to Palestine”
Though the besieged enclave is only a few meters away from Egyptian Rafah, it might as well have existed on another planet as it had been almost completely closed for years. The march on Gaza never happened. Hundreds of cars and buses from all major cities throughout Egypt were met with a military order to turn back. For miles, the army set up dozens of checkpoints along the main road to Rafah in the Sinai preventing any non-resident from passing through. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces, currently ruling Egypt since former president Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power, claimed it supports the call from their citizens to defend and support the Palestinians, but now is not the time as Egypt is still unstable and is not ready for confrontation with Israel.
As activists were turned away from the border, they decided to protest Egypt’s peace treaty with the Jewish State in front of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. The Army responded by forcibly breaking up the protest with rubber bullets, live ammunition and teargas canisters. Some activists were seriously injured, and over 160 were arrested, beaten, and then detained for days.
Some may look at the Egyptian army’s actions as similar to that of the old regime of Hosni Mubarak by preventing Egyptians from standing strong with their Palestinian brothers and sisters, but the truth is Egypt is now finding the Palestinian cause to be its own responsibility and Israel to be its burden.
In just months after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s relationship with the Palestinians, and Israel noticeably started to change.
During the 18-days of uprising against Hosni Mubarak’s rule, a pipeline that transports natural gas to Israel and Jordan was attacked, halting delivery. Egyptians began to question their nation’s business deals with Israel and found that the Mubarak regime was giving the Jewish State gas at 40% less than the international market rate. Pressure continued to mount and the transitional government in Egypt responded. Initially halting all gas sales to Israel and starting an investigation into the deals. Soon after, they changed the price of gas to Israel back to the internationally market rate and tried ministers for corruption who were involved with drafting the deal.
Since Hamas took control over the Gaza Strip in 2007, they remained in a bitter rivalry with Fateh, which controls the West Bank. After years of failed reconciliation talks, Egypt hosted a series of secret meetings with the Palestinian factions.
Eventually, Cairo successfully managed to broker a reconciliation deal. Palestinian leaders agreed to set up an independent transitional government, hold elections, and unify Palestinian groups under the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Though Egypt had hosted failed reconciliation talks between the groups in the past, it was only after Mubarak and his Intelligence leader Omar Suliman were out of the picture, Palestinian unity became possible.
Though the military had prevented Egyptian activists to march on Gaza on May 15th to mark the Palestinian Nakba, two weeks later Egypt permanently opened the Rafah border crossing – the only entry/exit point in Gaza that is not controlled by Israel – allowing all Palestinian women, children, and men above 40 years of age to cross freely. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 would have to apply for visas, and Egypt promises to open an office in Gaza to make such a process more convenient. Hundreds of Palestinians crossed into Egypt on May 28th, some for the first time in years. The opening of the border can significantly better the lives of Palestinians in Gaza as the coastal strip has been almost completely besieged for years.
Egyptian activists are calling for more action from their government to defend the Palestinians. They want to completely break ties with Israel and prepare their military for inevitable confrontations. One activist I met in Rafah told me he’s ready to march to Jerusalem. “Tomorrow, come with us. We’re going to pray in Al-Aqsa and free Jerusalem.” Another in Cairo who was arrested for protesting in front of the Israeli Embassy believes Egypt’s revolution is incomplete without Palestine. “None of the Arab revolutions will be successful unless Palestine is liberated. We are all integrated. We are all one people.”
The increase in support for Palestine in Egypt since their revolution is one example of positive change for Palestinians. Within occupied Palestine and Israel, growing nonviolent movements against internationally illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands are continuing to challenge Israel’s expansion. Palestinian refugees and Arab neighbors in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have marched to historical Palestine’s borders on May 15th, some successfully entering occupied Syrian Golan Heights: all done nonviolently.
A political shift has also taken place within the Palestinian Authority. After two decades of failed US-mediated peace talks with Israel, Palestinian leaders are looking elsewhere for recognition of a Palestinian state. In September, they will take the issue to the United Nations to vote on Palestinian statehood.
The Arab World is changing drastically as people are demanding true democracy, and the Arab people are not forgetting their Palestinian brothers and sisters behind.
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