Roundup: Popular pressure campaign on Hamas to give up control on Rafah crossing

Hundreds of Palestinians social media activists launched on Saturday a popular pressure campaign on Islamic Hamas Movement, urging it to give up control of the key Rafah crossing point on the borders between Gaza Strip and Egypt.

"Hamas has to handover the control on Rafah crossing to the Palestinian (National) Authority or to an international parties to guarantee a permanent and steady opening of the crossing," said Ayman A'loul, a local journalist and social media activist.

The activists called on Hamas to bear in mind the interests of the people instead of the interests of the party, and all agreed that Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, has to initiate a solution to the crisis of the closure of the crossing to rescue the humanitarian situation in the coastal enclave.

Ibrahim Abu Sha'ar, another young social media activist, wrote on his account that "away from internal feuds and disputes and in order to rescue the lives of patients and help students to continue their education, for God sake, please hand over the crossing point."

Akram Sourani, a third social media activist wrote on his page on Facebook that "enough is enough, please handover the crossing of Rafah to anyone."

Egypt has temporarily reopened the crossing for two days on Thursday and Friday after it remained closed for more than three months, where Eyad al-Mozom, spokesman of the Hamas-run ministry of interior said in a statement that 1,526 managed to cross and more than 23,000 people were not able to.

"We highly appreciate the decision of Egypt to reopen the crossing, but this can never be enough to enable the huge number of people who are in a bad need to travel," said al-Bozom, that his movement refuses to handover the crossing point to the PNA, or to the government of consensus.

Over the past couple of days, the crossing of Rafah was densely crowded with passengers; most of them were patients who need urgent medical treatment in Egypt and students who want to travel abroad for continuing their education.

Clashes broke out between the passengers and Hamas police forces.

The Hamas-run corporation for crossings and borders in Gaza had earlier said in a report that 2015 was the worst year in the history of Rafah crossing, where it had been closed most of the time and was partially reopened for few days only. It said that 25,000 people are stranded in Gaza and need to travel abroad.

Besides those who called on Hamas to handover the crossing to the PNA or to any other party, other opponents to the Hash-Tag, who are supporting Hamas, also responded to the comments and said that Hamas is not to be blamed for keeping the crossing closed, and held both the PNA and Egypt responsible for its closure.

Adham Abu Selmeya, a Hamas leader and spokesman of the Hamas-run committee to defy the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip wrote on his page that the problem is with the PNA which refuses to receive the control of the crossing and insists on keeping the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.

However, Yousef Abu Kweik, a social media activist wrote on his Facebook page that both Hamas and the PNA are to be blamed for the crossing crisis, adding that "the PNA doesn't want to run the crossing and Hamas doesn't want tp hanover the crossing."

Basem Na'eem, the senior leader in Hamas movement told Xinhua that the reason for the crisis "is not because Hamas doesn't want to handover the crossing point to the PNA, but because the consensus government refuses to hand over responsibility of administrating the Gaza Strip."

Musa Abu Marzooq, the deputy chief of Hamas movement wrote on his Facebook page that his movement proposed to Egypt with an idea of handing over the crossing point to the presidential guards of the PNA, adding that the Egyptians rejected the proposal of Hamas.

Akram Atallah, a Gaza-based political analyst told Xinhua that Rafah crossing turned the populations in Gaza into prisoners who are waiting indefinitely for their release," adding that "Hamas, who controls the crossing doesn't care about their situation."

"I don't know how Hamas thinks and what is the real reason that makes it insisting on keeping its grip on Rafah crossing because as long as it keeps its control in such a way amid the opposition of Egypt, I don't think that the crisis will be over soon," said Atallah. Endit