[View the story "Challenging Reports on the Rafah Border" on Storify ]Challenging Reports on the Rafah Border Traveling to the border, Palestinian bloggers challenged mainstream media reports that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza was open. Storified by The Stream · Wed, Oct 26 2011 21:59:34
On June 4th, several media outlets claimed that the Gaza-Egypt border crossing at Rafah was open. A group of young Palestinian bloggers traveled to the border and found the opposite of what was reported.
witnesses speak about the real circumstances at Rafah crossing 4-6-2011jehadx
Palestinian blogger Jehan Alfarra , a student at Islamic University in Gaza, recently wrote a post on the implications of opening the Rafah border.
The opening of Rafah will firstly and most importantly allow Gazans to somewhat practice their right for freedom of movement which they have been long deprived of. palinoia.wordpress.com
Scholarship holders would be able to travel with ease, patients would be able to travel for treatment, and families would be able to reunite without the dear of being stuck on either side (in or out of Gaza), and so on.palinoia.wordpress.com
On her blog, Jehan emphasizes the need for economic growth in the Gaza Strip.
The second most important thing would be raw construction material being brought back into Gaza to allow reconstruction to take place. And on this note, it is important to mention the hundreds of Gazan workers in the reconstruction sector that have been out of work and who would be finally brought back into work, reducing the unemployment level that Gaza is suffering from.palinoia.wordpress.com
Equally important would be reviving trade in the Gaza strip and allowing a sufficient amount of decent goods to enter, thus reducing the prices and fortifying the Gazan economy. This has another value which is, hopefully, terminating the existence of smuggling tunnels- that, believe it or not, Gazans hate even more than Israelis as it put the lives of Gazans at risk and indeed caused the death and and injury of hundreds.palinoia.wordpress.com
Today netizens greeted the news that the Rafah crossing was finally reopened.
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip was reopened today, after closure amid disagreements between Egypt and Hamascairo54
The #Rafahcrossing has been re opened today : ) #Egypt #Gaza I hope it stays that way.abdlkoddous
Bbye #Gaza hello #Rafah :)Fo0oFo0o_
#Hamas says it will accept what Egypt dictates at #rafah crossing. #rafah used as political pawn. Gazans jst want freedom to travel.nicolealjazeera
As Al Jazeera's Gaza correspondent points out, media outlets face their own difficulties in reporting the story.
At #rafah. #Hamas won't allow journos to film at border gate. On saturday crews filmed gazans breaking through gate to egyptnicolealjazeera
