Open Borders are fairy tales Palestinians tell themselves

This Ynet News article caught my eye because it sounds like a first.

As the world's top diplomats pledged billion of dollars for war-ravaged Gaza in Egypt on Monday, ordinary people here, from merchants to housewives, said they'd rather have open borders than handouts. Even some tunnel smugglers who profit from Gaza's blockaded borders say they'd rather import legally through open crossings than risk Israeli bombing raids and shaft collapses.
"I want a ceasefire and open borders. Crossings are better than tunnels," said 22-year-old smuggler Abu Mahmoud, leaning over a shaft as workers tried to clear a 100-meter stretch of tunnel that had collapsed under a recent Israeli air strike.

The closure of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after a violent Hamas takeover in June 2007, has deepened poverty and fostered militancy. A three-week military offensive in Gaza by Israel wreaked considerable destruction but left the militants in power. Now donor countries have to find a way to rebuild Gaza.

On Monday, donors pledged a total of $5.2 billion for Gaza and for the government of Hamas' main rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas had sought at least $2.8 billion in new aid from the donors' conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

Aid officials say reconstruction is only possible with open borders. But Israel and Egypt have set conditions that include a complicated prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas, and reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas. But ordinary Palestinians say there will be no real success until the borders are opened.

In Gaza City, car parts dealer Nayef Masharawi, 60, said the blockade has been bad for business. He noted that a gallon of Egyptian motor oil bought from tunnel smugglers costs nearly twice as much as the superior product he used to import from Israel. His last shipment from Israel arrived in May 2007, a month before the Hamas takeover. The elderly shopkeeper said he had fond memories of the 1970s, when he would drive from Gaza City to his Mercedes supplier in the Israeli port city of Haifa without borders or checkpoints.

You know what I find extremely odd? The largest expense of most reconstruction efforts is often labour, and yet, the Gaza Strip has almost unlimited market of cheap labour. Second, (or in this case) the first largest expense would be materials but materials are certainly to be had on the cheap in Egypt. So why is so much money really necessary for the so-called reconstruction? I sincerely doubt the backwater of the Gaza Strip had assets of $5.2 billion before the Israeli offensive but apparently it now costs $5.2 billion to replace assets well under a billion – which I should point out were not all destroyed by the Israelis.

Be that as it may, let’s play a little game of suppose – imagine there is peace between Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip. No kassams, no weapons, no smuggling. Hamas and the Palestinian people have decided to contend themselves within the Gaza Strip but there is one thing which will not shape the peace and that is ‘open borders’. The freedom of movement and the free flow of goods without controls or tariffs are a thing of the past and belong to a time before the second infatada when Israel still occupied the Gaza Strip and Gush Katif was flourishing. It was in Israel’s best interest to maintain the economy of the Gaza Strip, and therefore, Israel needed to integrate the Gazan economy with its own.

But withdrawal and disengagement are not just military terms for the physical leaving of an Israeli administration. It also means a complete break with any vestiage of concern for the prosperity of the local economy and a complete divorce from caring about the welfare of Gazans. Gaza is not Israel, and therefore, Israel has no interest or concern.

In theory, ‘open borders’ will not allow the free flow of trade between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Stop and think sensibly for a moment. Why should the Israeli state allow Israel to be flooded with cheap produce from the Gaza Strip – the only industry Gaza was able to develop beside kassams? It will only undercut and threaten the livelihood of the farmers of Israel. And what need has Israel of kassams or kassam specialists – its not like the Israelis have a shortage of rockets, engineers or scientists. Open borders will not mean Gazans will be allowed to flood Israel with cheap labor. Unions are powerful organizations in Israel, and the last thing any union wants is an open labor market driving down their member’s wages.

So let the Gazans go seek their fortunes in Egypt, you might be thinking, but Egypt has its own concerns. The average income in the Sinai is lower than in the Gaza Strip and Egypt has a population of at least 80 million to contend with. The Egyptians don’t want cheap produce or kassams crossing their borders and flooding their markets. Egypt already has a surplus of cheap available labour.

Again, why would the Egyptians give free rein to Gazans when the strip is run by the Hamas, the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization with which the Egyptian government is conducting its own special militant dance with? This is the sole reason why the Egyptians have been trying to so hard to reconcile the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. It needs the Gaza Strip to be run outside of the direct control of Hamas. Can it be done? I sincerely doubt it without a common enemy to unite them. Furthermore, the needs of the Gaza Strip could potentially threaten to wreck the economy of the West Bank and disproportionately tie up resources which in turn would lower quality of life for most West Bank Palestinians. It also denies the reality of West Bank-Gaza relationship. While the West Bank and the Gaza Strip share a common enemy which unites them only temporarily - neither side particularly cares much for the other. Take the Jews out of the equation and all they have in common is a mutual hate on for each other.

Well then, have the Gazans look to the markets of Europe and beyond, and yet, how can either Israel or Egypt allow open skies and open ports be controlled by the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim brotherhood? Even if the Israelis wash their hands; don’t be surprised to find the Egyptians take an active part in any refusal without a Palestinian Authority controlling the borders. And really why should Hamas turn over control back to the Palestinian Authority and lose any hard fought advantage towards furthering their own charter and aspirations? Besides, revenge is the mother’s milk to the Palestinian psyche and Hamas cannot afford to believe Fatah will not seek compensation for every Fatah operative’s execution.

Then, what about developing of tourism? Firstly, one needs to ask why the Egyptians would allow anything to threaten their tourist economy in the Sinai – the only real industry developed in the Sinai. Then you have to ask what would bring tourists with dollars into Gaza – an Islamic run state? Gaza has no Mecca or Medina and a dry tourist resort holds no interest for most of the world to play in.

But even more importantly, Gazans at peace with their neighbors means no more hand-outs or greatly reduced international aid. Suddenly, all the ‘special’ reasons for the free flow of international welfare will come to any end – or at least will put the Gaza on equal footing with all the other third world backwaters and no more deserving than any other nation state.
So what are the viable options for a perpetually failed state in the making? Only three which I can see – join with Egypt and lay aside aspirations of a Palestinian statehood, lobby Israel to take them back (highly unlikely) or a continued state of war. I vote the Gazan leadership picks war because far too many profit from it ranging from an international payday of aid to the international merchants of war. Face it, war pays and peace costs.

There is one lesson the Palestinians need to learn from the Torah. When Moses led the ancient Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt; they learned there is no freedom from responsibility. This wasn’t just a special handcrafted message for the ancient Hebrews and only applicable to them but a life lesson for the entire world.