A Palestinian shows his
ID to Egyptian soldiers guarding on the Egyptian side of the Rafah
border crossing along the Egypt-Gaza border, February 3, 2008.
Egyptian troops started closing the last breach in the Rafah border
on Sunday, only allowing Palestinians and Egyptians to cross the
border to return to their homes on the other side but preventing
any new cross-border movement. (Xinhua Photo)
Egypt closed the last breach of the border fence along the
Egyptian-Gaza border on Sunday morning amid efforts exerted to
mediate among parties concerned on the administration of Rafah
crossing.
About 300 Egyptian military troops were deployed near Rafah
crossing along the Egyptian border with Gaza to stop the flow of
Palestinians into the Egyptian side, a security source told Xinhua
on condition of anonymity.
Egyptian forces, with barbed wire and metal barricades, resealed
the only remaining gap on the Egyptian side of the border fence,
which was blew up by Palestinian militants on January 23 to allow
tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to cross into Egypt in
the past 11 days.
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), who
controls the Gaza Strip, has promised to help seal the border in
coordination with Egypt.
Meanwhile, according to report of the pan-Arab television
al-Jazeera, hundreds of Palestinians still gathered at the Gazan
side of Rafah border crossing.
Egyptian troops close
the last breach in the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza
Strip, February 3, 2008.? (Xinhua Photo)
Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad vowed on Sunday
that his country would never allow the incident of Rafah crossing
to happen again.
In sympathy with the humanitarian suffering of Palestinians in
Gaza, Egypt chose to allow the massive flow of Gazans into the
country in the past 11 days, Awad was quoted by the official MENA
news agency as saying.
But Egypt "will not abandon its right, duty and responsibility
to ensure such an incident is never repeated," Awad said.
Some Palestinians pass
Egyptian soldiers at the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza
Strip, February 3, 2008.? (Xinhua Photo)
On January 23, Hamas militants blew up the border wall separating
Gaza and Egypt, allowing the Palestinians living in the poor
isolated Gaza enclave to cross into Egypt to purchase daily
needs.
The developments at Rafah prompted Egypt to invite Hamas and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the past few days for
separate talks in Cairo to discuss the operation of the crossing,
Gaza's only gateway to the outside world bypassing Israel.
Abbas and a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Wednesday and
held talks with Egyptian officials on reopening Rafah crossing
which has been closed since last June when Hamas took over the Gaza
Strip by force.
Abbas, like Egypt, wants the crossing to rework based on a
US-brokered 2005 deal which stipulates the presence of European
Union(EU) monitors as a third party on the passage but rules out
any Hamas involvement in the management of the crossing.
The EU monitors left the crossing last June when Hamas seized
control of Gaza after routing security forces loyal to Abbas.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who arrived in Cairo
Saturday on a two-day visit to Egypt, said Sunday the European body
is prepared to resume its role in monitoring Rafah crossing under
the 2005 agreement.
"We are ready to resume work in Rafah crossing in case an
agreement was reached," said Solana following talks with Arab
League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa, adding the EU is seeking
to cooperate with parties concerned to work out an agreement on the
subject.
Noting he held important and beneficial talks with Egyptian and
AL officials, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Solana
said he will return to the region to follow up the development
within the coming weeks.
But the separate talks between Egypt, the Palestinian National
Authority and Hamas in the past days had made no breakthrough on
the issue of Rafah crossing management.
Mahmoud Zahar, who heads the Hamas delegation, said Wednesday
Hamas demands a key role on running Rafah crossing if talks
succeeded to reopen the passage.
On Saturday, a Hamas negotiator said the group accepts the
return of EU monitors to Rafah border crossing if they reside in
Gaza or Egypt, but not in Israel.
After three days of separate talks in Cairo, Hamas told Egypt
that it has reservations on the 2005 international agreement, said
the movement negotiator Mohammed Nasser.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008)
