Goods, people cross freely in Gaza border bazaar

RAFAH, Gaza (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of Palestinians jammed the Egypt-Gaza border region Thursday, picking up everything from camels to cigarettes in Egypt, a day after overrunning the border wall.

Despite international pressure from Israel and the United States, Egypt has made no moves to reseal the border but has prevented the Palestinians from going beyond El-Arish, the nearest town, which is 25 miles inside Egypt.

Israeli and U.S. leaders have called on Egypt to regain control of the border region, citing concerns that terrorists and weapons may be coming into Gaza unchecked.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may meet Sunday to discuss the situation in Gaza, but nothing has been finalized, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassam Zaki told CNN Wednesday that the border would be open "as long as this is a humanitarian crisis."

"We are not opening the Rafah crossing just for everybody to cross -- we're opening it because it's a very dire humanitarian situation," he said.

CNN's Ben Wedeman said there are more people bringing in goods and services from Egypt on Thursday than a day earlier when Palestinians blasted through the concrete and metal walls at the Rafah border crossing. Watch throngs stream both ways across the border »

Some media reports, quoting unnamed Palestinian and Hamas sources, say Gaza's Hamas leaders planned the destruction of the border wall months in advance.

Now that the border has been overrun, Hamas may seek a role in monitoring the Rafah border crossing, a Hamas government spokesman told the Israeli daily Haaretz.

"An open border like this has no logic," spokesman Taher Nunu told the Israeli newspaper. "We are studying the mechanism of having an official crossing point."

Rafah, which is the only Gaza border crossing not maintained by Israel, has been closed since the Hamas takeover in June. Prior to that, it had been jointly maintained by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority under the auspices of European Union monitors.

The free flow of goods on Thursday has started affecting Gaza's economy, lowering cigarette prices in Gaza to one-third of what they were a day earlier. See people, vehicles and goats stream through »

Inflation has been rampant in Gaza since Israel began restricting non-humanitarian goods sent into Gaza -- such as cigarettes, cement, chocolate and soda -- after Hamas seized control of the territory last year.

Because of the high prices and widespread demand, cigarettes have served as a secondary currency in the impoverished Palestinian territory.

Israel closed all of its border crossings with Gaza last week to punish Hamas after days of rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Under pressure to avoid a humanitarian crisis in the already impoverished territory, Israel allowed fuel and medical supplies into Gaza Tuesday morning, but only temporarily.

But security sources told Haaretz that Israel intends to keep the crossings into Gaza permanently closed except when emergency humanitarian needs must be met.

Israel's Foreign Ministry issued a tersely worded statement Wednesday calling on Egypt to control the situation.

"The Egyptians are deployed along the border between Gaza and Egypt. It is their responsibility to ensure that the border operates properly, in accordance with the signed agreements," the ministry statement said. "Israel expects the Egyptians to solve the problem."

Egypt is caught between growing domestic sympathy for the Palestinians in Gaza and its diplomatic agreements with Israel and the United States. Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries bordering Israel that recognize and maintain diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

The United States backed Israel's position, stressing the importance of "security along the border and that the Egyptians are able to adequately control and police their border," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that Washington believes the "genesis of this problem" is Hamas -- which sends "upwards of 150 rockets a day" into Israel.

Despite the concerns from its international partners, Egypt was praised by some of the Palestinians who have been able to leave Gaza for the first time in months.

"We thank our brothers, the Egyptians, that welcomed us here and opened borders for us and we came here forgetting our suffering," Gaza resident Khaled Agal said.

"We also thank our brother [Egyptian] President Hosni Mubarak that he made us forget our sorrow and siege." E-mail to a friend

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