IT is not easy to reach the Rafah border, in Gaza. Anyone wanting to reach Rafah from Cairo, Egypt, must pass through at least 20 checkpoints to get from Sinai to Al-Arish, the city closest to Rafah. There, two border police forces stand guard: Egyptian and Palestinian.

All documents are checked at each checkpoint. The average distance between the checkpoints is 10 kilometers. If each inspection takes just 10 minutes, it takes over three hours t