Rafah
Other transcription(s)
• Arabic	رفح
Rafah Location of Rafah within the Palestinian territories
Coordinates: 31°17′19″N 34°15′07″E / 31.28861°N 34.25194°E / 31.28861; 34.25194Coordinates: 31°17′19″N 34°15′07″E / 31.28861°N 34.25194°E / 31.28861; 34.25194
Governorate	Rafah
Government
• Type	City
• Head of Municipality	Sa'ad Zoarub
Population (2006)[1]
• Jurisdiction	71,003

Rafah (Arabic: رفح‎), also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located 30 kilometers (19 mi) south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003^[1] is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate. Yasser Arafat International Airport, Gaza's only airport, is located just south of the city; the airport operated from 1998 to 2001, when it was bombed and bulldozed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after the killing of Israeli soldiers by members of Hamas. Rafah is the site of the Rafah Border Crossing, the only crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Etymology[link]

Over the ages it has been known as "Robihwa" by the ancient Egyptians, "Rafihu" by the Assyrians, "Ῥαφία, Rhaphia"^[2] by the Greeks, "Raphia" by Romans, "Raphiaḥ" [pronounced Rafiach] by the Israelites, "Rafh" by the Arab Caliphate.

History[link]

Antiquity[link]

Rafah has a history stretching back thousands of years. It was first recorded in an inscription of Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I, from 1303 BCE as Rph, and as the first stop on Pharaoh Shoshenq I's campaign to the Levant in 925 BC. In 720 BCE it was the site of the Assyrian king Sargon II's victory over the Egyptians, and in 217 BC the Battle of Raphia was fought between the victorious Ptolemy IV and Antiochus III.^[3] (It is said to be one of the largest battles ever fought in the Levant, with over a hundred thousand soldiers and hundreds of elephants).

The town was conquered by Alexander Yannai and held by the Hasmoneans until it was rebuilt in the time of Pompey and Gabinius; the latter seems to have done the actual work of restoration for the era of the town dates from 57 BCE. Rafah is mentioned in Strabo (16,2, 31), the Antonine Itinerary, and is depicted on the Map of Madaba.^[3]

A Jewish community settled in the city in the 9th and 10th centuries and again in the 12th, although in the 11th century it suffered a decline and in 1080 they migrated to Ashkelon. A Samaritan community also lived there during this period. Like most cities of southern Palestine, ancient Rafah had a landing place on the coast (now Tell Rafah), while the main city was inland. During the Byzantine period, it was a diocese.^[3]

Arab and Mamluk rule[link]

Rafah was an important trading city during the early Arab period, and one of the towns captured by the Rashidun army under general 'Amr ibn al-'As in 635 CE.^[4] Under the Umayyads and Abbasids, Rafah was the southernmost border of Jund Filastin ("District of Palestine"). According to Arab geographer al-Ya'qubi, it was the last town in the Province of Syria and on the road from Ramla to Egypt.^[5]

In 1226, Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi writes of Rafah's former importance in the early Arab period, saying it was "of old a flourishing town, with a market, and a mosque, and hostelries." However, he goes on to say that in its current state, Rafah was in ruins, but was an Ayyubid postal station on the road to Egypt after nearby Deir al-Balah.^[5]

Ottoman and Egyptian period[link]

Ottoman records in the 16th century show a small village of 16 taxpayers.

In 1799, the Revolutionary Army of France commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte passed through Rafah during the invasion of Egypt and Syria.^[6]

Rafah was the boundary between the provinces of Egypt and Syria. In 1832, the area came under Egyptian occupation of Muhammad Ali, which lasted until 1840.

In 1881, Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria wrote

Fragments of gray granite pillars, still standing, are here to be met with about the road, the fields, and the sand, and we saw one lying on the ground half buried... The pillars are the remains of an ancient temple, Raphia, and are of special importance in the eyes of the Arabs, who call them Rafah, as they mark the boundary between Egypt and Syria.

—Ludwig Salvator, The Caravan Route between Egypt and Syria

Salvator 1881, pp. [1]

Modern times[link]

In 1917, the British army captured Rafah, and used it as a base for their attack on Gaza. The presence of the army bases was an economic draw that brought people back to the city, and in 1922 it had a population of 600. By 1948, the population had risen to 2,500.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the refugee camps were established. In 1956 the Israeli army - in retaliation for a series of raids executed by the fedayeen - killed 111 people, including 103 refugees, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah.^[7][8]

During the 1967 Six-Day War, the Israel Defense Force captured Rafah with the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, the population was about 55,000, of whom only 11,000 lived in Rafah itself.

Rafah is at the bottom of map.

In the summer of 1971, the IDF, under General Ariel Sharon (then head of the IDF southern command), destroyed approximately 500 houses in the refugee camps of Rafah in order to create patrol roads for Israeli forces. These demolitions displaced nearly 4000 people.^[9] Israel established the Brazil and Canada housing projects to accommodate displaced Palestinians and to provide better conditions in the hopes of integrating the refugees into the general population and its standard of living;^[10] Brazil is immediate south of Rafah, while Canada was just across the border in Sinai. Both were named because UN peacekeeping troops from those respective countries had maintained barracks in those locations. After the 1978 Camp David Accords mandated the repatriation of Canada project refugees to the Gaza Strip, the Tel al-Sultan project, northwest of Rafah, was built to accommodate them.^[11]

Because of the Camp David Accords, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and Rafah was divided, with part of it on the Egyptian side of the border under Egyptian rule. To cope with the division of the town, smugglers made tunnels under the border, connecting the two parts and permitting the smuggling of goods and persons.^[12]

During the 2011 Egyptian protests, anti-government rioters attacked and killed three police officers in the Egyptian part of the town.^[13][14]

On 29 January 2011, the Church of St. George and the National Library were burnt down in the Egyptian part of the town after first removing all Islamic books to safety.^[15]

Demographics[link]

In 1922, Rafah's population was 599, which increased to 2,220 in 1945. In 1982, the total population was approximately 10,800.^[16]

In the 1997 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census, Rafah and its adjacent camp had a combined population of 91,181, Tall as-Sultan was listed with a further 17,141.^[17] Refugees made up 80.3% of the entire population.^[18] In the 1997 census, Rafah's (together with Rafah camp) gender distribution was 50.5% male and 49.5% female.^[19]

In the 2006 PCBS estimate, Rafah city had a population of 71,003,^[1] Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities for census purposes, having populations of 59,983 and 24,418, respectively.^[1]

Rafah Border Crossing[link]

Rafah is the site of the Rafah Border Crossing, the only crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Formerly operated by Israeli military forces, control of the crossing was transferred to the Palestinian Authority in September 2005 as part of the larger Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. A European Union commission began monitoring the crossing in November 2005 amid Israeli security concerns, and in April 2006, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard assumed responsibility for the site on the Palestinian Authority side.^[20] On the Egyptian side, the responsibility is assumed by the 750 Border Guards allowed by an agreement of Egypt with Israel. The agreement was signed in November 2005 forced by US pressure, and specifies that it is under security requirements demanded by Israel.

On January 23, 2008, at 2 am, the border crossing was breached after gunmen set off an explosion nearby, destroying part of the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. Over the next four days, approximately 700,000 Palestinians crossed into Egypt, most planning to buy supplies and return to Gaza. A smaller number of Egyptians crossed into Gaza.

On June 1, 2010, in the midst of international uproar following Israel's attack on a relief boat, Egypt announced it was opening the border crossing.

On May 28, 2011, Egypt opened the Gaza Strip Border Crossing, and thousands of Palestinian refugees entered into Egypt.

However in mid-June 2011 the crossing was closed for several days and after that only a few hundred were allowed to cross each day compared with 'thousands' who applied to cross each day. Egypt reportedly agreed to allow a minimum of 500 people to cross each day. [2]

See also[link]

Palestine portal

• Battle of Gaza (2007)
• European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah
• Rafah Elementary Co-Ed “B” School
• Rafah Governorate

References[link]

External links[link]

• United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
• Rafah Today, pictures by Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer
• Rafah Smuggling Tunnels
• Rafah Pundits: Rafah Focused Blog
• Raising Yousuf - Blog by Laila el-Hadad who is a reporter for Aljazeera living in Gaza
• Reports from Rafah
• Interview with Hip Hop Artist Michael Franti - Reporting from Rafah.
• Part A Part B Satellite photos comparing 2001 to 2004.
• Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip - Human Rights Watch
• The Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project - The organization started by people in the communities of Rafah, Gaza, and Olympia, WA
• The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project - A sistering project connecting the communities of Rafah, Gaza, and Madison, WI

v t e List of cities in Hamas Governed Gaza Gaza Strip Bani Suheila Beit Hanoun Beit Lahia Deir al-Balah Gaza Jabalia Khan Yunis Rafah

v t e Rafah Governorate Cities Rafah Municipalities al-Bayuk Shokat as-Sufi Village councils al-Mawasi al-Qarya as-Suwaydiya Refugee camps Rafah camp Tall as-Sultan

Margareth Menezes
Background information
Born	(1962-10-13) October 13, 1962 (age 49)
Origin	Salvador, Bahia, Brasil
Genres	Axé MPB Samba-Reggae World Music Afrobeat
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, dancer, actress
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1987 - Present
Labels	Universal Music, EMI Music, Som Livre, Mango, Tratore, Dubas Música, RBM, MZA Music, Island Records, Warner Music Brasil e Polydor Records
Associated acts	Maria Bethânia, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Ivete Sangalo, Daniela Mercury, Luís Represas, Carlinhos Brown, Alcione, Lenine, Cláudio Zoli
Website	MargarethMenezes.com.br

Margareth Menezes (born October 13, 1962) is a Brazilian singer from Salvador, Bahia.

Her style is considered axé but her music also steers into samba and MPB territory, at times drawing on African rhythms and reggae.

Menezes is best known in Brazil for her song "Me Abraça e Me Beija", a major hit in 1990. She also scored another hit with "Dandalunda", a song which became the unofficial anthem of the 2003 Salvador carnival.

Menezes has achieved superstardom in her native Bahia but only moderate success in wider Brazil. She is famed for her energetic live performances and regularly tours and performs at carnival celebrations.

In 1990, one of Menezes's tracks "Elegibô (Uma Historia De Ifa)" was used in the Mickey Rourke film Wild Orchid. This prompted Island Records in the US to release a compilation album of some of her older material from Brazil on their subsidiary label, Mango. The album, simply titled Elegibô, was an instant hit, reaching # 1 on the Billboard World Music chart at a time when David Byrne was championing Brazilian music in the US. The title track itself became a regular staple at clubs playing so-called world music throughout the US and Europe. The album also received a full release in the UK, Germany and France. A single, "Tenda do Amor", was also released from the album in some European territories. Menezes toured internationally on the back of this album, generating a lot of press in the process. A second US-released follow-up album Kindala, released late 1991, but repackaged in some territories from the Brazilian version of the same name, also achieved some success. This release also gave Menezes a minor hit album in France too.

In 2001, Menezes released the highly acclaimed Afropopbrasileiro (also known as "Maga") showcasing her trademark fusion of afro-Brazilian beats. The album was produced by Carlinhos Brown of Tribalistas fame and was well received in Brazil and internationally.

Menezes also co-wrote and performed on the 2003 Tribalistas hit "Passe Em Casa", from the million-selling Tribalistas album.

Her 2005 single, "Como Tu", a duet with Brazilian superstar Ivete Sangalo was released amidst much hype because Sangalo was achieving platinum album sales at the time. The track reached the lower reaches of the airplay Top 30 in Brazil but failed to emulate the success of recent Sangalo hits. The hit single was lifted from Menezes' 2005 album release Pra Você; the album received lukewarm reviews, possibly owing to a more poppier sound than previous releases. A second single, the reggae-tinged "Miragem na esquina" performed poorly at radio.

In 2006, the album Pra Você received a Grammy nomination for "Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album".

More recently, Menezes participated on the track "Beijo Descarado" by Timbalada which achieved some airplay success in Brazil during the 2007 Carnival celebrations.

In 2010, an acoustic version of her 2008 album Naturalmente was released. The album was recorded at Ilha dos Sapos and featured guests like Gilberto Gil, Carlinhos Brown and Portuguese singer Luis Represas.

Menezes remains one of the most dynamic and popular of the contemporary Brazilian artists achieving international recognition.

Discography[link]

External links[link]

• Margareth Menezes Official Website