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Africa North
Egypt opens Rafah crossing for three days to students, humanitarian cases
2017-02-12
[AlAhram] Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing with Gazoo Strip on Saturday for three days to allow the passage of students and elderly in need for treatment, Paleostinain news agency WAFA reported.

The crossing in northern Sinai is the only way for 1.8 million Paleostinians living in Israeli-besieged Gazoo to enter and exit the strip.

Since October 2014, the crossing has been more or less closed by Egyptian authorities due to security concerns.

Cairo periodically opens the border to allow civilians with foreign passports, Paleostinian students, and those with medical needs to travel back and forth.

The crossing was last opened temporarily in late January.
It is now almost mid-February, so it's been closed about three weeks. Golly.
The Times of Israel explains:
The Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",-run Gazoo Strip reopened Saturday, reflecting the improved ties between Cairo and the Islamist terror organization. Since the beginning of the year, the crossing has opened with a much greater frequency following talks between Cairo and Hamas to resolve long-simmering tensions.

Last month Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
 led a delegation to Cairo, the first visit by the group’s top leader in over three years. The visit represents a desire by both sides to rebuild trust after tension since the 2013 military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Moslem Brüderbund group, Hamas’s mother movement. Authorities accused the group of supporting hard boyz to carry out attacks in Egypt.

In recent weeks, Cairo has increased the number of people allowed to exit through the Rafah Border Crossing, Gazoo’s main gateway to the outside world. It also has begun to allow Gazoo to import commercial goods through Rafah for the first time since 2013, and sent public signals that it is interested in improving relations.

Haniyeh left Gazoo in September to perform the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca -- the first time Egypt allowed him to leave the territory since Morsi’s ouster. He then went to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
 to see Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.
Posted by:trailing wife

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