Abbas and Mesha'al to head to Cairo for talks on Rafah border

Date: 29 / 01 / 2008 Time: 20:10

Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will head to Cairo on Wednesday to hold talks with the Egyptian government about the possibility of reopening the Gaza-Egypt border crossings.

On Monday Egypt tightened control of its border with the Gaza Strip after five days of virtually unregulated cross-border traffic. Since Wednesday of last week hundreds of thousands of Gazans have crossed the newly-opened border, mainly to shop for supplies made scarce by the Israeli blockade of the territory. Israel and the United States have been pressuring Egypt to re-seal the border.

Abbas' arrival in the Egyptian capital will coincide with that of a delegation from Fatah's political rivals, Hamas. Head of Hamas' political bureau in Damascus, Khalid Mesha'al, will lead the delegation that is to discuss the crippling Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, the current Palestinian situation and find a solution to the crisis of the crossings.

Despite rumblings that the Egyptians are attempting to broker negotiations between Fatah and Hamas, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Yasser Abed Rabbo, told Ma'an, "the president is going alone to Cairo to meet with the Egyptians and debate over the issue of the Rafah crossing, and there is no intention to meet with Hamas leaders or negotiate with them because the International Convention is clear enough that the border is under the domination of the Palestinian Authority and the Europeans and Egypt and the Arab League agreed on this during their meeting a few days ago."

However, a Hamas press spokesman said that the movement's delegation will discuss with the Egyptian officials "the unjust blockade on the Gaza Strip, the Rafah crossing and ways of dealing with the Palestinian political division and achieving Palestinian national unity."

The Information Office said that Mesha'al is fresh from an official visit to Saudi Arabia during which he met with Saudi officials. Saudi Arabia is attempting to encourage inter-Palestinian dialogue between Hamas and Fatah.

The Palestinian polity has been divided since Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip in June, forcing Fatah's security forces out of the territory. President Abbas dismissed a unity government, appointing a caretaker government that holds power in the West Bank.

Abbas to operate Rafah crossing, Hamas refuse the past agreement with Israel
Tuesday January 29, 2008 14:05 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News ghassanb at imemc dot org
On Tuesday, the Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, refused to allow the decision to re-open the Rafah crossing based on the past signed agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

In 2005 the Rafah crossing, between Gaza and Egypt, was handed over from Israel to be operated by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas security forces with EU observers monitoring the operation.

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered earlier in the week to reopen the Rafah crossing located between Egypt and Gaza, the only way for the Palestinians to travel in or out of the Gaza strip based on the 2005 agreement. The offer was made on Sunday during his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehod Olmert.

The international community welcomed the offer from Abbas, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, hinted on Monday that the United States supports Abbas’s security forces in taking control over the Gaza borders. The EU also welcomed and supported that idea. On Sunday, Foreign Ministers of the Arab League issued a statement reiterating the need to run the Rafah crossing based on the 2005 agreement in order to end the crisis in the Gaza Strip.

In a telephone interview with IMEMC on Tuesday, Fawozi Barhum; the Spokesman of Hamas in Gaza said "we in the Hamas movement have stated clearly, will not allow the Rafah borders to be operated by the past agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, because it was unjust towards our people, thousands couldn't leave the Gaza strip for health care, travel and studying and scores were kidnapped by the Israeli occupation at the Rafah borders because of this agreement".

Barhum added that "after all of the hardship, loses and collective punishment, we will not allow the Israeli occupation with American supervision to control this Egyptian Palestinian crossing."

In June 2007 Hamas took total control of the Gaza strip after several months of infighting between Hamas and President Abbas' Fatah Party, the European observers then left the Rafah terminal, and shortly afterwards the Israeli and Egyptian troops totally closed it.

On Monday EU sources stated that if Hamas guarantees the safety of the EU observers they will send observers to all Gaza crossings including Rafah. Also on Monday Israeli government officials said that Abbas forces are not ready to take control over the Rafah crossing, however today the Israeli government announced that they are not planning to block Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from controlling the crossing if he makes an agreement to do so with Cairo.

Cairo announced on Tuesday that Egyptian troops will complete the closure of the breach in the border that Palestinians made at the Rafah-Egypt borders. Last week Palestinian civilians and resistance groups opened two holes in the Rafah–Egypt border wall, after two weeks of an Israeli siege that left the 1.5 million Gaza residents lacking for food, water, medicine and fuel supplies.

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