Palentinians Persist Against Closing Frontier

JERUSALEM, Jan. 25. 2008— -- Palestinian gunmen driving a bulldozer dug new holes in the border between Gaza and Egypt late Friday, undermining efforts by Egyptian security forces to close the frontier.

Earlier in the day, Egyptian soldiers dressed in riot gear had started closing the border with Gaza. The free flow of human traffic and goods was reduced to a trickle.

Angry Palestinians, frustrated at the prospect of their newfound freedom of movement being curtailed, scuffled with the security forces throughout the day. A few dozen threw rocks, injuring several soldiers.

In response, the security forces used dogs and a water canon to push back the crowds, and fired warning shots into the air.

Today's confrontation comes three days after Palestinian militants blew holes in the 7-mile-long border fence between Gaza and Egypt, signaling the start of a mass movement of Palestinians into Egypt in search of supplies. After the gunmen in the bulldozer opened up new passageways this evening, hundreds of Palestinians started to cross again.

Egypt has come under fierce Israeli and U.S. pressure to impose order. Israel and the U.S. are concerned that the breach in the border torpedoes the strategy of isolating the Hamas regime in Gaza. The three days of frenzied shopping has effectively undermined Israel's blockade.

Thursday I visited the border region. There was a festive atmosphere, and what was once the no man's land between Gaza and Egypt had turned into an open-air market.

People were buying whatever they could carry. I saw donkey carts weighted down with mattresses and blankets, men struggling to carry large containers of gasoline, pickup trucks loaded with refrigerators and televisions, and dozens of cows, goats and chickens being herded back toward Gaza.

Ever since Hamas took control of Gaza last June, the Israelis have been imposing a strict blockade on almost everything, including food and fuel. In response to a dramatic increase in Palestinian rocket fire last week, that blockade was tightened, and Palestinians complained of a humanitarian disaster.

I met one elderly woman from Khan Younis in Gaza, who was slowly making her way back from Egypt laden down with a large bag she had perched on her head. She took it down to show me the dozens of bags of washing powder she had bought. Around her ankles a goat and its kid played, which she told me was a wedding present for her son.

Elsewhere food stalls had been established, all doing a roaring trade. One sold traditional Arab pastries and grilled chicken liver with pita bread at two shekels (50 cents) a throw.

Another popular purchase in Egypt during the past two days has been Chinese-made motorcycles. I saw dozens being ridden back into Gaza by young Palestinian men clearly proud of their new purchases. At the border they steered them through what used to be the no-man's land between Egypt and Gaza, and then across the frontier where once stood the border fence, most of it now lying face down in the sand.