Rafah long languished as a provincial backwater in the claustrophobic Gaza Strip, a clannish and rural hinterland to Gaza City's bustling and cosmopolitan downtown.

在环境幽闭的加沙地带，拉法是一个主要的落后地区，从而其长期停滞不前。

It is important that this region is not perceived to be a rural-agricultural provincial backwater.

重要的是，这一地区不能被误解为一个偏农的穷乡僻壤。