Egypt and Gaza... a fateful relationship

Written by: Bakr Awaida

During an internet research tour earlier this week on the latest developments in the relationship between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, I was drawn to more than one important development that would draw the attention of observers of the developments of a relationship that has been important over the centuries, like the relations of neighboring countries with each other in all the different continents of the world. Of course, Gaza is not officially a state - at least not yet - but is part of the internationally recognized state of Palestine. Truth be told, this fact is something that has always been confirmed by the “Hamas” authority that has been ruling the Strip since the summer of 2007, although it distances its administration from the official government of Ramallah as far as those who do not want any rapprochement, as if the two are from a different planet. During the research, and based on the premise that every event that means the general public deserves to be given precedence over others, I found myself stopping, first, in front of news published by “Al-Masry Al-Youm” website last Friday, in which it stated that the Rafah crossing witnessed the movement of 6,693 passengers in both directions during the period from the fifth to the ninth of March. The report, written by Khaled Mohamed for the website, expands and includes in detail that 3,163 people crossed into Egyptian territory from the Strip, compared to 3,530 travelers crossing from Egypt to Gaza, during the aforementioned period.

In a context not far from the concerns of the general public as well, reports published by several websites that referred to an important development project taking place in North Sinai caught my attention. For example, Egypt began to modernize the road networks between Egypt and the Gaza Strip and build new roads, including a fourteen-kilometer road that connects Rafah to the Kerem Shalom crossing, where the border triangle between Egypt and Palestine is located, and another that connects Rafah and the Suez Canal directly across the desert. Passing through Sheikh Zuweid, Al-Arish, Bir Al-Abd, and Al-Qantara East, and it will allow access to Cairo without passing through the cities of North Sinai.

Realistically, it can be said: Egypt's economic interests and its strategic security necessities have always required Cairo's keenness to distinguish relations with Palestine in general, and the Gaza Strip in particular, with a clear vision based on unshakable elements, and the visions of people whose agendas may differ at some point do not affect their strength. What, with the requirements of a common destiny relationship originated since ancient times. in this context; It is known that the relationship between Egypt and Gaza predates the modern era by several centuries, as it, by virtue of its geographical location, dates back to the Pharaonic era. essential. Moreover, Gaza was the first Palestinian city that the Islamic Army of Conquest, led by Amr ibn al-Aas, entered in 635 AD, coming to it from Egypt.

Since that distant time, up to the contemporary time, the rule of Gaza passed between the hands of more than one ruler, each of whom belonged to the power that prevailed during a specific stage. It is also known that the rule of the sector, since the loss of most of Palestine in the Nakba of 1948, was entrusted to Egypt, and it remained so until the rest of the Palestinian lands were lost by virtue of the situation that resulted in the 1967 catastrophe. However, the shadows of the ghosts of the Israeli occupation are still looming uneasily when it comes to the full independence of the Gaza Strip.

Such a situation will not negate the fact that the relationship between Egypt and Gaza was, and always will be, a relationship of a common destiny. I was a boy when I witnessed with my own eyes one of the truest examples of this fateful relationship. This happened sixty-six years ago from this day, specifically on Thursday corresponding to the fourteenth of March 1957. On that day, the young Muhammad al-Musharraf climbed the flagpole of the government brigades to lower the flag of the international emergency forces and put the Egyptian flag, in response to ideas that were being proposed at the time regarding the internationalization of the Gaza Strip. After the defeat of the Israeli forces, and the failure of the 1956 British-French-Israeli aggression against Egypt. This relationship of common destiny will remain one of the facts of history and geography that no emergency circumstance will succeed in canceling, no matter how long that circumstance takes. In agreement with the "Middle East"