Rafah ( ar, رفح, Rafaḥ) is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

city in the southern

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza. ...

. It is the district capital of the

Rafah Governorate The Rafah Governorate ( ar, محافظة رفح ') is a Governorate of Palestine in the southernmost portion of the Gaza Strip. Its district capital or ''muhfaza'' is the city of Rafah located on the border with Egypt. According to the Palestini ...

, located south of Gaza City. Rafah's population of 152,950 (2014) is overwhelmingly made up of former

Palestinian refugee Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war (1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War (1967 Palestinian exodus ...

s. When Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1982, Rafah was split into a Gazan part and an Egyptian part, dividing families, separated by barbed-wire barriers. The core of the city was destroyed by Israel''Razing Rafah — Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip''
pp. 27–28 and 52–66 (PDF text version) o
Summary:
Human Rights Watch (HRW), October 2004''Supplementary Appeal for Rafah''
UNWRA, May 2004PCHR
''Uprooting Palestinian Trees And Leveling Agricultural Land – The tenth Report on Israeli Land Sweeping and Demolition of Palestinian Buildings and Facilities in the Gaza Strip 1 April 2003 – 30 April 2004''
O

/ref> and Egypt to create a large Gaza–Egypt border#Buffer zone, buffer zone. Rafah is the site of the

Rafah Border Crossing The Rafah Border Crossing ( ar, معبر رفح, Ma`bar Rafaḥ) or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. It is located on the Gaza–Egypt border, which was recognized by the 1979 Egypt–Israel pea ...

, the sole crossing point between

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

and the

State of Palestine Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state located in Western Asia. Officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization ( ...

. Gaza's only airport,

Yasser Arafat International Airport Yasser Arafat International Airport ( ar, مطار ياسر عرفات الدولي ''Maṭār Yāsir 'Arafāt ad-Dawli'') , formerly Gaza International Airport and Dahaniya International Airport, is located in the Gaza Strip, between Rafah and ...

, was located just south of the city. The airport operated from 1998 to 2001, until it was bombed and bulldozed by the Israeli military (IDF) after the killing of Israeli soldiers by members of

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

Etymology

Over the ages it has been known as by the ancient Egyptians, or by the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the As ...

ns, by the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

s, "Raphia" by

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

, רפיח "Rafiaḥ" by the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

, "Rafh" by the

Arab Caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

. The transliteration of the Hebrew name, "Rafiah", is used in modern English alongside "Rafah"

Development

The Ottoman–British agreement of 1 October 1906 established a boundary between Ottoman ruled Palestine and British ruled Egypt, from Taba to Rafah. After ''World War I'' Palestine was also under British control, but the Egypt-Palestine Boundary was maintained to control movement of the local Bedouin. From the mid-1930s the British enhanced the border control and Rafah evolved as a small boundary town which functioned as a trade and services centre for the semi-settled Beduin population.''The Evolution of the Egypt-Israel Boundary: From Colonial Foundations to Peaceful Borders''
pp. 3, 9, 18. Nurit Kliot, Boundary and Territory Briefing, Volume 1 Number 8
At Google books
/ref> During the Second World War it became an important British base. Following the Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949, Rafah was located in Egypt-occupied Gaza and consequently, a Gaza–Egypt border did no longer exist. Rafah could grow without any consideration being taken of the old 1906 international boundary. In the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

, Israel conquered the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

and the Gaza Strip from Egypt and all of the city now was under Israeli occupation. In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty that returned the Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip, to Egyptian control. In the Peace Treaty, the re-created Gaza–Egypt border was drawn across the city of Rafah. Rafah was divided into an Egyptian and a Palestinian part, splitting up families, separated by barbed-wire barriers. Families were separated, property was divided and many houses and orchards were cut across and destroyed by the new boundary, bulldozed, allegedly for security reasons. Rafah became one of the three border points between Egypt and Israel.''Cinderella in Rafah''
Al-Ahram, Issue No. 761, 22– 28September 2005

Demographics

In 1922, Rafah's population was 599, which increased to 2,220 in 1945. In 1982, the total population was approximately 10,800. In the 1997

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...

(PCBS) census, Rafah and its adjacent camp had a combined population of 91,181,

Tall as-Sultan Tel al-Sultan or Tall as-Sultan ( ar, معسكر تل السلطان) is one of eight Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. It is located in the Rafah Governorate just north of Rafah city and Rafah Camp.

Refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s made up 80.3% of the entire population. In the 1997 census, Rafah's (together with Rafah camp) gender distribution was 50.5% male and 49.5% female. In the 2006 PCBS estimate, Rafah city had a population of 71,003, Rafah camp and

Archaeology

Antiochus III Antiochus III the Great (; grc-gre, Ἀντίoχoς Μέγας ; c. 2413 July 187 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic king and the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire, reigning from 222 to 187 BC. He ruled over the region of Syria and large parts of the r ...

willing to make peace with

Ptolemy V egy, Iwaennetjerwymerwyitu Seteppah Userkare Sekhem-ankhamun Clayton (2006) p. 208. , predecessor = Ptolemy IV , successor = Ptolemy VI , horus = '' ḥwnw-ḫꜤj-m-nsw-ḥr-st-jt.f'Khunukhaiemnisutkhersetitef'' The youth wh ...

, had his daughter

Cleopatra I Cleopatra I Syra (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα ἡ Σύρα; c. 204 – 176 BC) was a princess of the Seleucid Empire, Queen of Ptolemaic Egypt by marriage to Ptolemy V of Egypt, and regent of Egypt during the minority of their son, Ptolemy ...

marry Ptolemy V. Their marriage took place in 193 BC in Raphia

History

Bronze Age Raphia

Rafah has a history stretching back thousands of years. It was first recorded in an inscription of Egyptian

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

Seti I Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c.1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II. The nam ...

, from 1303 BCE as ''Rph'', and as the first stop on Pharaoh Shoshenq I's campaign to the

Levant The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...

in 925 BCE. In 720 BCE it was the site of the

n king

Sargon II Sargon II (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is general ...

's victory over the Egyptians.Raphia – (Rafah)
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum – Jerusalem.

Hellenistic and Roman periods

In 217 BCE the

Battle of Raphia The Battle of Raphia, also known as the Battle of Gaza, was fought on 22 June 217 BC near modern Rafah between the forces of Ptolemy IV Philopator, king and pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt and Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid Empire during ...

was fought between the victorious Ptolemy IV and Antiochus III. It is said to be one of the largest battles ever fought in the Levant, with over a hundred thousand soldiers and hundreds of

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

s. The town was conquered by

Alexander Yannai Alexander Jannaeus ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξανδρος Ἰανναῖος ; he, ''Yannaʾy''; born Jonathan ) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judea from 103 to 76 BCE. A son of John Hyrcanus, h ...

and held by the Hasmoneans until it was rebuilt in the time of

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

and Gabinius; the latter seems to have done the actual work of restoration for the era of the town dates from 57 BCE. Rafah is mentioned in Strabo (16, 2, 31), the

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary ( la, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, "The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a famous '' itinerarium'', a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibl ...

, and is depicted on the Map of Madaba.

Byzantine period

During the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

period, it was a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

, and

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

and

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in orde ...

s have been found there. It was represented at the Council of Ephesus 431 CE by Bishop Romanus, but today remains a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

but a small

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

presence exists.

Early Muslim to Mamluk periods

Rafah was one of the towns captured by the

Rashidun army The Rashidun army () was the core of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. The army is reported to have maintained a high level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization, gran ...

under general

'Amr ibn al-'As ( ar, عمرو بن العاص السهمي; 664) was the Arab commander who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was assigned import ...

in 635 CE, and subsequently was an important trading city during the Early Muslim period. Under the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

s and

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttal ...

s, Rafah was the southernmost border of

Jund Filastin Jund Filasṭīn ( ar, جُنْد فِلَسْطِيْن, "the military district of Palestine") was one of the military districts of the Umayyad and Abbasid province of Bilad al-Sham (Levant), organized soon after the Muslim conquest of the Lev ...

("District of Palestine"). According to Arab geographer

al-Ya'qubi ʾAbū l-ʿAbbās ʾAḥmad bin ʾAbī Yaʿqūb bin Ǧaʿfar bin Wahb bin Waḍīḥ al-Yaʿqūbī (died 897/8), commonly referred to simply by his nisba al-Yaʿqūbī, was an Arab Muslim geographer and perhaps the first historian of world cult ...

, it was the last town in the Province of Syria and on the road from

Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was ...

.le Strange, 1890, p
517
/ref> A

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community settled in the city in the 9th and 10th centuries and again in the 12th, although in the 11th century it suffered a decline and in 1080 they migrated to

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border ...

. A Samaritan community also lived there during this period. Like most cities of southern

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

, ancient Rafah had a landing place on the coast (now Tell Rafah), while the main city was inland. In 1226, Arab geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known for ...

writes of Rafah's former importance in the early Arab period, saying it was "of old a flourishing town, with a market, and a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...

, and hostelries". However, he goes on to say that in its current state, Rafah was in ruins, but was an

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...

postal station on the road to Egypt after nearby

Deir al-Balah Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah ( ar, دير البلح, , Monastery of the Date Palm) is a Palestinian city in the central Gaza Strip and the administrative capital of the Deir el-Balah Governorate. It is located over south of Gaza City. The ci ...

Ottoman and Egyptian period

Rafah appeared in the 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the ''

Nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' of Gaza of the ''

Liwa Liwa may refer to: Places ; Chad *Liwa (sub-prefecture) in Mamdi Department ; Indonesia *Liwa, Indonesia ; Oman * Liwa, Oman, place in Oman, area around Sohar University *Liwa Province, Oman (wilayah) ; Poland *Liwa, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeshi ...

'' of Gazza. It had a population of 15 households, all Muslim, who paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, occasional revenues, goats and/or bee hives.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 150 In 1799, the Revolutionary Army of France commanded by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

passed through Rafah during the invasion of Egypt and Syria.Dwyer, 2007, p. 415 Rafah was the boundary between the provinces of Egypt and Syria. In 1832, the area came under Egyptian occupation of

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

, which lasted until 1840. The French explorer

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...

, who visited in May 1863, noted two pillars of granite which the locals called ''Bab el Medinet,'' meaning "The Gate of the town". In 1881,

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria ( it, Luigi Salvatore Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Dominico Raineri Ferdinando Carlo Zenobio Antonino, german: Ludwig Salvator Maria Joseph Johann Baptist Dominicus Rainerius Ferdinand Carl Zenobius Antonin) ...

wrote: "Fragments of gray granite pillars, still standing, are here to be met with about the road, the fields, and the sand, and we saw one lying on the ground half buried... The pillars are the remains of an ancient temple, Raphia, and are of special importance in the eyes of the Arabs, who call them Rafah, as they mark the boundary between Egypt and Syria."

WWI and British Mandate

In 1917, the British army captured Rafah, and used it as a base for their attack on Gaza. The presence of the army bases was an economic draw that brought people back to the city. In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Rafah had a population of 599 inhabitants, all Muslim,Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p
8
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 1,423, still all Muslims, in 228 houses.Mills, 1932, p
6
/ref> Rafah 1931

In the 1945 statistics Rafah had a population of 2,220, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
32
/ref> with 40,579 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
46
/ref> Of this, 275 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 24,173 used for cereals, while 16,131 dunams were un-cultivable land.

1948–1967

After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt governed the area (see Palestinian Protectorate) and refugee camps were established. In the 1956 war involving Israel, Britain, France, and Egypt, 111 people, including 103 refugees, were killed by the Israeli army in the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah, during the

Rafah massacre The Rafah massacre occurred on November 12, 1956, during Israel's occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Protectorate following the Suez Crisis. The town of Rafah, lying on the Egypt–Gaza border, had been one of two invasion points duri ...

. The United Nations was unable to determine the circumstances surrounding the deaths. During the 1967

, the Israel Defense Forces captured Rafah with the

and

, the population was about 55,000, of whom only 11,000 lived in Rafah itself. On Friday, 9 June 1967, the Israeli army bulldozed & blew up 144 houses in Rafah refugee camp killing 23 inhabitants.

After 1967

In the summer of 1971, the IDF, under General

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. S ...

(then head of the IDF southern command), destroyed approximately 500 houses in the refugee camps of Rafah in order to create patrol roads for Israeli forces. These demolitions displaced nearly 4,000 people. Israel established the Brazil and Canada

housing project Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...

s to accommodate displaced Palestinians and to provide better conditions in the hopes of integrating the refugees into the general population and its standard of living; Brazil is immediate south of Rafah, while Canada was just across the border in Sinai. Both were named because UN peacekeeping troops from those respective countries had maintained barracks in those locations. After the 1978

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retr ...

mandated the repatriation of Canada project refugees to the Gaza Strip, the Tel al-Sultan project, northwest of Rafah, was built to accommodate them. During the early months of

First Intifada The First Intifada, or First Palestinian Intifada (also known simply as the intifada or intifadah),The word '' intifada'' () is an Arabic word meaning " uprising". Its strict Arabic transliteration is '. was a sustained series of Palestini ...

on 25 April 1989 Rafah resident Khaled Musa Armilat, aged 22, was shot dead by

Israeli soldiers The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

Khan Yunis Khan Yunis ( ar, خان يونس, also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus; translation: '' Caravansary fJonah'') is a city in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 142,6 ...

. In a letter to a Member of

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

, March 1990, Defence Minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until ...

stated that the dead man's brother had been interrogated and stated that he had been killed by Border Police but four months later he blamed the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. Rabin added the matter was being investigated by the

Israeli Police The Israel Police ( he, משטרת ישראל, ''Mišteret Yisra'el''; ar, شرطة إسرائيل, ''Shurtat Isrāʼīl'') is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fight ...

. Three and a half weeks after Armilat's killing, 19 May, five civilians including a 50-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy, were killed in Rafah by Israeli soldiers using

plastic bullets A plastic bullet or plastic baton round (PBR) is a non-lethal projectile fired from a specialised gun. Although designed as a non-lethal weapon, they have caused a number of deaths when used incorrectly. Plastic bullets are generally used for ...

. Two of the 12 other casualties later died of their wounds. In May 2004, the Israeli Government led by, then Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon approved another mass demolition of homes in Rafah. Therefore, he obtained the nickname "the bulldozer".''Razing Rafah''
Map 2: Rafah Features. HRW, October 2004 In September 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip but Rafah remained divided, with part of it on the Egyptian side of the border under Egyptian rule. It has been claimed that it was in order to cope with the division of the town, that smugglers have made tunnels under the border, connecting the two parts and permitting the smuggling of goods and persons.

Rafah Border Crossing

Border between Israel and Egypt visible from space

Rafah is the site of the

, the sole crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Formerly operated by Israeli military forces, control of the crossing was transferred to the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

in September 2005 as part of the larger Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. A European Union commission began monitoring the crossing in November 2005 amid Israeli security concerns, and in April 2006, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard assumed responsibility for the site on the Palestinian Authority side.Mitch Potter, Something that works: the Rafah crossing, ''The Toronto Star'', 21 May 2006. On the Egyptian side, the responsibility is assumed by the 750 Border Guards allowed by an agreement of Egypt with Israel. The agreement was signed in November 2005 forced by US pressure, and specifies that it is under security requirements demanded by Israel.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as

hot semi-arid Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places *Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand ** Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...

(BSh).

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

Rafah Today, pictures by Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer

Rafah Pundits: Rafah Focused Blog

Raising Yousuf
– Blog by Laila el-Hadad who is a reporter for Aljazeera living in Gaza

Interview with Hip Hop Artist Michael Franti
– Reporting from Rafah.
Part A
nbs
Part B
Satellite photos comparing 2001 to 2004.
Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip
– Human Rights Watch
The Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project
– The organization started by people in the communities of Rafah, Gaza, and Olympia, WA
The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project
– A sistering project connecting the communities of Rafah, Gaza, and Madison, WI {{Authority control Cities in the Gaza Strip History of Palestine (region) Divided cities Rafah Governorate Municipalities of the State of Palestine