RAFAH, Gaza Strip // Egypt opened its border with Hamas-ruled Gaza yesterday for a three-day period ahead of the Eid Al Fitr holiday this weekend, but imposed tight restrictions on who could travel and did not say whether it would resume normal border operations.
Cairo closed the border on August 5, shutting down the Rafah passenger terminal and, according to Egyptian security officials, sealing more than 100 cross-border smuggling tunnels.
The move came after Islamic militants in Egypt's Sinai desert near Gaza killed 16 Egyptian troops at a border post.
The government of Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, suggested that the assailants had help from Gaza, a claim Hamas denies. The Egyptian restrictions raised tensions between Mr Morsi and Hamas, both members of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood and presumably sympathetic to each other.
The Hamas interior minister, Fathi Hamad, has demanded that Mr Morsi reopen the Rafah crossing quickly and suggested the new Egyptian president was acting like his predecessor, the staunchly anti-Hamas Hosni Mubarak, who had backed Israel's tight blockade of Gaza's borders.
"We suffered from the unjust regime of Mubarak that participated in the Israeli blockade of Gaza," Mr Hamad wrote on his ministry's website. "Why should we suffer now, in the era of Egypt's revolution and democracy?"
Addressing Egyptian leaders, Mr Hamad called for a different policy.
"Palestine should be considered a priority," he wrote. "If you are not doing that, you have to correct your course."
Last week, Egypt began allowing stranded travelers to return to Gaza, and 4,500 have so far made the trip, according to Gaza border officials. Yesterday, Egypt for the first time allowed some border traffic from Gaza, but only for a select few - students registered at foreign universities, those with residency abroad and medical patients.
Maher Abu Sabha, a Gaza border official, said two-way traffic would continue for three days, in the run-up to the weekend's holiday.
The limited opening is meant to relieve some of the pressure on Gaza, but also suggested there would be no imminent decision by Egypt to resume normal, open border traffic. Gaza officials say thousands of travelers are on a waiting list, hoping to leave the territory.
Amani Salman, 34, and her four sons were waiting on the Gaza side of the border, hoping to cross into Egypt en route to their home in Qatar. Ms Salman said she had been scheduled to travel on the day after the Sinai attack and was forced to cancel her plane tickets, at a cost of US$1,800 (Dh6,611).
She said she had hesitated for years to visit her family in Gaza because of the precarious border situation but decided to risk the trip after the change of government in Egypt.
"This year, I thought it will be better, but it was the same," she said. "We love Egypt and we were very happy for their new president. We are not asking for much, just to be treated as humans ... It's a mistake to punish Gaza."
After Mr Morsi became president this summer, Hamas had high hopes that the new Egyptian leader would significantly ease the Gaza border blockade, imposed by Israel and Mr Mubarak after Hamas seized the coastal area by force in 2007.
Rafah is key for Gaza, providing the only gate to the outside world for the territory's 1.7 million people. Israel controls the other land crossings, allowing movement for only small numbers of humanitarian cases, as well as access by air and sea.
In a first step, Mr Morsi's government eased passenger traffic in and out of Gaza, but failed to respond to Hamas's most pressing demand, to turn Rafah into a trade corridor. For now, Gaza imports most consumer goods through an Israeli crossing and through hundreds of smuggling tunnels that are also used as a conduit for people and weapons.
Reda Fahmi, who heads the Palestine Committee in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, said that following last week's attack, Egypt's national security superseded any concern for Gaza, and that security forces would focus on dismantling the smugglers' network on both sides of the border.
"This is a headache that we should get rid of," he said of the illicit trade route, one of Gaza's main lifelines. But setting up a legal trade route "requires extensive studies and research", he said.
After the attack, Egypt closed its border with Gaza and sent more than 3,000 troops to the lawless peninsula in a clampdown on militants, some with loose links to Al Qaeda, according to Sinai security officials. On Sunday, Egyptian security forces killed seven suspected militants during raids on hideouts in two villages in northern Sinai, security officials said. They say Egyptian forces have also sealed more than 100 smuggling tunnels but that a limited tunnel trade resumed over the weekend.
From its side, Hamas also temporarily prevented access to the illegal underground tunnels in a show of goodwill toward Egypt.
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The Laughing Apple
Yusuf/Cat Stevens
(Verve Decca Crossover)
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
