US, Israel fearful of Rafah reopening

A top Iranian lawmaker says the US and Israel are fearful of Egypt’s decision to reopen the Rafah border crossing permanently, urging Cairo not to succumb to pressure from foreign powers.

The Egyptian government said it would reopen the crossing permanently on Saturday to ease the four-year-old Israeli siege on Gaza.

Hussein Naqavi Husseini, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis), said the White House uses human rights and democracy as a tool and called on the Cairo government not to be affected by the US and Israeli pressure.

“The Egyptian government has an absolute right to make a decision about Rafah. The US and Israel’s opposition to the issue proves their inhumane nature,” Husseini told Majlis news agency (ICANA).

“However, the reopening of Rafah will help international media offer the world public opinion the innocence of the Palestinian people in detail,” he opined.

The reopening of the border would again allow Palestinians in Gaza a much-needed entry point to the outside world to access basic goods and supplies, which have been denied to them by the brutal Israeli blockade.

Enforcing the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, the regime of the ousted US-backed ruler of Egypt Hosni Mubarak had refused to open the Rafah crossing since June 2007 despite its full sovereignty over the area.

The former Egyptian regime was under pressure from the public and some Arab countries for refusing to open the crossing even during the Israeli deadly offensive into Gaza in 2008, in which nearly 1,400 people lost their lives, mostly women and children.

The 22-day Israeli offensive deteriorated the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza as many civilian infrastructures were knocked out during the invasion.

Gazans have since been facing harsh conditions with minimal supply of food, water, fuel, and electricity.