Rafah border crossing opens, no one monitoring.

The new Egypt has opened the Rafah border crossing, and no one is monitoring it.

Egypt opened the Rafah crossing on the Sinai-Gaza border after four years, allowing 300 Palestinians to pass through in the first hour.

Hamas and Fatah on Saturday welcomed the reopening of the crossing, praising Egypt for its “brave decision.”

Palestinians who crossed the terminal expressed relief over the absence of Egyptian intelligence officers on the Egyptian side. They said that in the past the intelligence officers used to either arrest residents of the Gaza Strip who wished to travel to Egypt or turn them back.

Egyptian authorities said that the border crossing would stay open permanently for the first time since it was closed nearly four years ago.

The Egyptians also assigned two medical teams to examine travelers and facilitate the hospitalization of patients in Egyptian hospitals.

And for the first time ever, the Egyptians decided that Palestinian males under the age of 18 and over 40 do not need visas to enter Egypt. All women are also exempt from acquiring a visa to enter Egypt.

Hamas representative Ghazi Hamad said that EU monitors who used to work at the Rafah terminal would not return to their jobs.

The monitors were stationed at the terminal as part of an agreement between the Palestinian Authority, the EU and Israel in 2005.

The monitors left the terminal after Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007. Fatah security forces were also forced to leave the border crossing then.

Of course, Hamas is offering to monitor it.

“The Egyptians haven’t told us anything yet about the EU monitors,” Hamad said. “We prefer that the terminal remain under the exclusive control of Palestinians and Egyptians.”

He said that the Hamas government was capable of running the border crossing in a “professional and legal way in accordance with international standards.”

Netanyahu has failed again. As our enemies get stronger, our government refuses to act, instead preferring to kiss the feet of international powers who don't care whether we live or die.

The proper response here would be military intervention along the border, and damn the Egyptians and international community.