High-Profile Gaza Visitors Leave Hollow Mark

It is easy to tell when a high-profile delegation is visiting Gaza. Flags of the delegation's home country are suddenly fluttering on the lampposts of Gaza's main roads, and billboards offer words and images of gratitude to the "honorable" guests coming to stand with their kinfolk in their struggle for liberation.

The past few months have witnessed a string of such visits, all of which marked the first of their kind since Hamas took power in June 2007. The Hamas government often brands these visits as "courageous" actions aimed at breaking the siege and isolation imposed on Gaza by Israel. Critics, however, see things differently.

Politicians traveling to Gaza do not experience the difficulties and endless bureaucracy like the people of Gaza and the solidarity activists and other foreigners when they try to enter or leave the coastal enclave. Politicians do not have to make the tedious six-hour trip from Cairo through the Sinai to the Rafah crossing. Instead, they simply board a plane that takes them from Cairo to the airport at al-Arish. In addition, they do not wait for hours on the Egyptian side of the crossing, hoping to get their passports stamped by Egyptian border officials, or face questioning and extraordinary treatment on their way out of the territory. For them, there is no siege to break, thus the "symbolism" of their doing so could not be more ridiculous.

While politically motivated visits are welcomed by the Hamas government in Gaza and facilitated by the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt, delegations of intellectuals never receive such facilitation or reverence. Palestinians with foreign passports are also rarely allowed into Gaza. To do so, they must apply for permits from Egyptian authorities that take at least a month to be issued. Even Palestinians in the West Bank have to go through a similar procedure. They cannot cross into Gaza via the Israeli-controlled Erez crossing despite Gaza being one hour from Ramallah.