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RAFAH — Rafah is two cities with the same name: The Egyptian Rafah and the Palestinian Rafah, separated by the border line between Egypt and Gaza.
Both have occupied the front page in news throughout the course of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the Palestinian Rafah is expected to be the next target in Israel’s war on Hamas-ruled Gaza.
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Through its long history, Rafah had been known as the border line between Egypt and the Levant.
In the most explicit terms to date, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late Monday that plans for an invasion of Rafah will go ahead. “It will happen,” he said. “There is a date.”
The town on the Gaza side of the border with Egypt has swelled to 1.4 million people, with the arrival of masses of displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza. The international community has warned of grave humanitarian consequences of an eventual invasion.
But Rafah’s real tragedy began with the 1978 U.S.-brokered peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, known as the Camp David Accords. The tragedy reached its boiling point in 2014 with the forced displacement of the Egyptian city’s residents.
History of Rafah
Rafah was mentioned in history books as a single city with one urban and social fabric, inhabited by Arab tribes. It had been divided between Egypt and the Levant region. There were two granite columns marking the borders: one towards the Levant and another towards Egypt.
When Khedive Ismail visited Rafah in 1898, he engraved the date of his visit on the column facing Egypt to mark the eastern border of Egypt. The two columns didn’t tear the social fabric between those living on either side. It was in 1906, when Egypt and the Ottoman Empire officially demarcated the border separating Egypt and the Levant region which was ruled by the Ottomans.
The agreement resulted in drawing an “administrative dividing line” between the borders of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. That line divided Rafah administratively into two parts, but the agreement, which included eight clauses, preserved the right of the people to own land.
“The people of the two regions shall remain as they were before in terms of ownership of water, fields, and lands in the two regions, as is customary between them,” the agreement stated. It ensured people’s right to move without restrictions, as well as providing logistical services to the city.
Camp David, final chapter
This situation continued until the Arab defeat of June 1967, when its administration was transferred to Israel. Twelve years later, the Camp David deal marked the beginning of the latest chapter in the history of the pivotal city.
Following the deal, Israel established barbed wire separating the Palestinian Rafah and the Egyptian Rafah
The city’s situation worsened following the Camp David deal which adopted the 1906 demarcation. The deal also established a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) axis extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kerem Shalom crossing, the crossing between Egypt, Israel, and Gaza.
Following the deal, Israel established a barbed wire separating the Palestinian Rafah and the Egyptian Rafah. Years later, Israel, which was occupying Gaza, established a buffer zone inside the strip that extended 400 meters deep into Rafah. The barbed wire border turned into a steel fence following the second intifada in early 2000s.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and two years later Hamas took over power in the enclave from the Fatah movement. The axis, which includes the Rafah crossing, was governed by Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and Israel, according to a deal on the Gaza crossings signed when Israel left the strip.
El-Sisi crackdown in Sinai
The situation remained the same until 2014, when Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi began his rule in Egypt.
Egypt declared war on terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula which was a stronghold for militant groups linked to al-Qaeda and then the Islamic State (ISIS). That was the pretext the government used to forcibly displace the people who lived in some areas in Rafah.
The government established a five-kilometer buffer zone deep into the Egyptian Rafah. The buffer zone starts from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The declared goal at that time was the war on terrorism in Sinai.
Egypt also agreed with Hamas to create a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of the border, in exchange for facilitating the opening of the Rafah crossing for Palestinians.
The declared goal at that time was the war on terrorism in Sinai, and the destruction of the tunnels linking Sinai to Gaza, and strengthening the 14-kilometer-long border wall. Egypt said it destroyed 1,500 tunnels.
It is worth noting that the project to strengthen the border and separation wall between Egyptian and Palestinian Rafah actually began in 2009 during the era of Hosni Mubarak, with American-French-Israeli support, but it was halted due to the January 25 Revolution of the Arab Spring.
The measures taken by the Egyptian regime in 2014 were greatly appreciated by the Israeli side, and were considered a security precedent that had not occurred before. These measures, which were implemented by the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, had a severe impact on the residents of Rafah. About 100,000 people were displaced, and thousands of homes and farms were destroyed.
The government said it would compensate the displaced residents, and established a housing project for them, named New Rafah.
Old & New Rafah
New Rafah is 7 kilometers from the border with Gaza and 6.5 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. Its urban style — modern apartment buildings — is completely different from the old Rafah. It’s very small compared to the old Rafah.
Each family that owned a house in old Rafah, received an apartment in New Rafah.
The displacement was arbitrary. Residents have repeatedly complained about the army’s mistreatment, especially after the complete ban on entering Rafah in 2017; and the empty promises of the Egyptian government regarding the compensation, or the return to their homes after the end of the military operation against militant groups in Sinai.
In 2023, the residents held a protest calling for their return to Rafah. Authorities met the protesters with violence and some of them were jailed. They also negotiated with them on their demands, which have yet to be met.
Buffer zone
As Israel launched its war on Gaza after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, the strip was completely isolated from Egypt as Israel effectively controlled the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Israel repeatedly struck the Palestinian side of the crossing in the early weeks of the war to force its closure.
The Egyptian city has become a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza.
Now Israel allows aid trucks and residents to pass through the Rafah crossing only after close inspections and limited permissions.
The removal of the old Rafah has also impacted the Palestinian on the other side of the border, given the societal and tribal ties between the two cities. The Egyptian city has become a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza.
This has raised many questions about the objective of such measures and who benefited more from them, especially with reports about Israel’s intention to re-control the area along the Philadelphi corridor on either side of the Rafah border.
Such a move will be even more dangerous for the Palestinians.
