Free At Last

450 Gazans Flock to Egyptian Border

As new government ends four-year blockade.

Egypt’s new government opened the Rafah border with Gaza on Saturday for the first time in four years, bringing Palestinians by the busload to the border crossing. The new policy will allow residents of the Gaza Strip to travel abroad by goung through Egypt, although men between ages 18 and 40 will still require an Egyptian visa. Over 400 Palestinians from Gaza gathered at the border in order to travel across when it opened. The Rafah crossing is the only one in Gaza not controlled by Israel. “I feel this is the start of freedom,” said one Gazan who has been unable to visit his sons in the U.K. “You can’t imagine how much we have suffered.” Israel made no statement about the border opening.