Israel has neither a presence nor any ability other than outright re invasion and occupation of Rafah to determine what happens there.
According to the agreement israel was supposed, via video camera, have a say as to who enters and who doesnt....well the video images arrived 8 minutes late and the Palestinians ignored whatever israel had to say so the observation station at Keren Shalom (border kibbutz) was abandoned.
Egypt as a sovereign and proud country does not bend to israeli pressure, they do whats in their best interests, as do all countries. They're refusal to turn Rafah into a large import/export terminal has to do with their own interests. When Sadat made peace with israel he demanded two things: that all of the sinai be returned and that Israel take gaza....Egypt has enough security/smuggling problems in the sinai, they don't want additional ones...but thats my own interpretation.
The choke point of Rafah is only such if one sees it not as a truck terminal with a customs section for two countries at peace. If that were the case for every "toll booth" one could easily have 4-5 trucks an hour (as is the US mexican border)
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/physics/CES_Res_3/truck4.htmlIf one sees it as a security problem, with a constant threat of violence, then as in Karni, they need a far more sophisticated system where trucks enter, scan the goods, transfer the goods to the local trucks..and that takes time money and the will to develop. (though the 6 months that have passed would have been more than enough).
The agreement with Egypt/Palestinians/Israel was that Rafah Not be an export/import terminal...the only country which had that interest is Egypt. The Palestinians certainly could use an additional export route, and Israel certainly doesn't need the headache/costs of keeping karni open (smugging from gaza is a given, even during the israeli presence)...only the Egyptians would want such a thing. And as shown, israeli security concerns are ignored anyway at Rafah...the Palestinians and egyptians don't do israeli bidding.
As far as humanitarian aid, its already been delivered via Rafah.....physically there is no problem for the road system to carry trucks.
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its politics: politics in not even mentioning Egypt as a "port" Politics that keeps Egypt out of the equation... thats the way Egypt likes it as do others
why some have claimed here that its Rafah is irrelevant is beyond my comprehension
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