When the authorities at the Rafah border terminal closed down their
offices on Saturday, they were wrapping up the first day of a new era
in Egyptian foreign policy. In a move hailed by many Palestinians and
Egyptians as a break from years of unpopular Mubarak-era
diplomacy — the joint enforcement, with Israel, of a four-year blockade
on the Gaza Strip — Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
launched a new set of border rules that observers said would give
Gazan Palestinians back their pre-blockade freedom.
Palestinian women and children, as well as men under the age of 18 or
over the age of 40, are now permitted to enter Egypt for up to one
month without a visa. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 may be granted
permits to enter for reasons such as enrollment in Egyptian
universities or a need for medical treatment. In effect, the new
conditions seem to read, Gazans will now have a great deal more
freedom to travel outside their 139-square-mile territory,
which they have likened to a large, outdoor prison since the
blockade was imposed in 2007 after the Islamist group Hamas took
control.
