HYDERABAD: Reham Abuolwan, a 27-year-old Palestinian woman entrepreneur from Gaza, received invite to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) to be held in Hyderabad but it is highly unlikely that she would be participating, due to the travel restrictions placed on Gazans by Israel and Egypt. She is the only person from Palestinian territories to have received the invite. Gaza is a landlocked self-governing territory that shares borders with Israel and Egypt. Erez is the border crossing between Gaza and Israel and Rafah, between Gaza and Egypt. Rafah crossing remains closed for most part of the year.
Speaking to Express, Reham said that it might not be possible for her to cross through Rafah for two reasons. One is that the paperwork for her Indian visa is still under process. It got delayed due to some errors in documentation and may not be completed till Wednesday. Even if she gets a visa on time, she would not be able to cross Rafah as only a select number of people are allowed to pass through Rafah border with priority being given to sick people, students, people with residency permits to other countries etc.
As per media reports, there are 25,000-30,000 people are waiting to cross Rafah for the five-day opening of the border. Reham said, “To cross through Erez one has to apply at least 60 days in advance either directly to Israeli government or to Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs which forwards it to Israel.. I have still not received permission from Israel. The US consulate is trying to secure a permit for me but a week ago they mailed me saying that they cannot assist me with the permit process,” she said. P3