GAZA CITY, 25 November 2005 — Palestinians will be able to cross from the Gaza Strip into Egypt from tomorrow, a day after the Rafah terminal’s official reopening, according to the head of a team of European monitors overseeing security.
“We will start opening the gate the day after the ceremony for four hours a day but we will increase quickly the number of hours in order to enlarge the period of time that the Palestinian population can cross the border,” Italian police general Pietro Pistolese said yesterday.
“When I receive in a short time a larger number of officers, I will increase the number of opening hours,” he said after meeting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
The reopening of the terminal at a ceremony today to be presided over by Abbas will help allay fears of the 1.3 million population that the Gaza Strip was being transformed into a “giant prison” after a 38-year Israeli occupation.
A key transit point and Gaza’s only link with the outside world except Israel, Rafah has been open only intermittently since the historic withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory on Sept. 12.
Israel had refused to allow Rafah to reopen, citing fears that weapons could be smuggled from Egypt into Gaza, a stronghold of Palestinian militant factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, however, brokered a deal on Nov. 15 during a visit to the region that will see EU monitors oversee security at Rafah by being given real-time access to closed circuit television footage.
Today’s ceremony is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. (1100 GMT).
Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan announced on Wednesday that the Palestinians had reached an agreement on access via Rafah which will mean only Palestinian males aged 18-40 will need a visa to go to Egypt.
Palestinian Authority officials, students enrolled in Egyptian universities or those going for medical treatment will also be exempted, said Dahlan, adding that the crossing would be open 24 hours a day.
