The international community does not want Palestinians to leave Gaza, even though they are supposedly starving there. The insistence on imprisoning the suffering Palestinians in Gaza only serves to perpetuate the conflict with Israel, though it’s being sold as a humanitarian endeavor.
Israel Today reported three years ago that a large portion of Gaza’s residents wanted to emigrate, but were prevented from doing so by Hamas. Today, this desire has become even stronger, but it is no longer Hamas that is holding the Palestinians captive in the Gaza Strip. Rather, it’s the international community keeping them there, especially Egypt, which understandably does not want to be overrun by a radicalized Palestinian population.
Help yourself
Fortunately, Egypt is an Arab state where a little bit of baksheesh, or bribery, can achieve a lot. Although the border between Gaza and Egypt is officially closed, it seems possible to cross it, but doing so is not cheap.
To raise the necessary funds, thousands of Gazans are turning to crowdfunding, asking generous Internet surfers for money to evacuate their families from the Gaza Strip. There are over 1,000 donation pages on GoFundMe alone.
Blogger Elder of Ziyon first discovered these calls for donations. He writes:
The information on the donation pages does not directly mention “bribes,” but that is what it means.
One page says they need €6,300 per family member for “permits” and “crossing fees.” Another speaks of $10,000 to $15,000 per person. Another talks about $5,500 for adults and $2,700 per child, and yet another says they need $7,000 for an adult and $1,500 per child.
These figures do not come from Egypt, but from “brokers” who promise to bribe the right people to get the Palestinians out, and who may simply pocket the money themselves. It is believed that some of them are connected to Egyptian intelligence.
Undercover journalists have reported contacting Gaza-based travel agencies, which gave them widely different prices for getting people across the border into Egypt. The travel agents claimed that the prices were being given to them by Egyptian intelligence.
Bon voyage
Support for voluntary emigration from the Gaza Strip has also been discussed among Israeli politicians since October 7, but for the international community this topic is taboo. No matter how much the people of Gaza suffer, they must continue to serve as pawns in the war against Israel.
So-called human rights organizations also agree that no one should be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip. However, Gazans disagree and take advantage of the opportunities available to them, even if they are prohibitively expensive.
Perhaps Israel should also use this opportunity and unofficially donate the money the Palestinians need via the crowdfunding websites. What war and international diplomacy cannot achieve, perhaps the Arabic tradition of baksheesh can.
