RAMALLAH/EL-ARISH, Egypt, 31 July 2007 — Another 313 Palestinians of the thousands stranded in Egypt crossed into Israel on their way to Gaza yesterday, while Israeli authorities have approved the entry of another 1,000. “Israel has agreed to allow an additional 1,000 Palestinians in Egypt to cross,” Hani Jabbour, a Palestinian security coordinator on the Egyptian side of the divided border town of Rafah, told reporters.

Israel initially approved the entry of only 627 of the estimated 6,000 Palestinians stranded in Egypt when the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip was sealed in the wake of Hamas’ violent takeover in June.

Of those, 413 have now entered Israel through the Al-Oja Nizana cargo point south of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, from where they are taken through Israel to the Erez terminal in the north of the strip.

The fate of the remaining Palestinians, many of whom are Hamas supporters, remains in limbo as does that of the 107 Palestinians stranded at El-Arish airport who protested that they had been forgotten. “They threw glass bottles breaking airport windows and glass doors,” an airport security source told AFP yesterday.

The Rafah terminal — Gaza’s only door to the outside world that bypasses Israel — has been shut since deadly Palestinian infighting saw Hamas seize the territory on June 15.

When open, Rafah is operated in close cooperation by Egypt, European Union monitors, Israel and the Palestinians, and can be closed if any one party refuses to participate. Hamas has objected to the Jewish state being able to control who is allowed to travel from Egypt into Gaza.

Israel has also agreed to a United Nations request to let dozens of Palestinians fleeing Iraq enter the West Bank, an Israeli official said yesterday, calling the decision the latest in a series of goodwill gestures to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since he fired the Hamas from his government last month.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zehavit Ben-Hillel could not say exactly how many would be allowed into the West Bank, access to which is strictly controlled by Israel, but Israeli daily Haaretz put the number at 41. She did not say when they would arrive.

Under the agreement with the UN the new arrivals will not be classified as refugees, Ben-Hillel said, adding that Israel does not want the arrangement to be seen as a precedent but will examine similar future requests on a case-by-case basis.

Israel has rejected a request that other Palestinians who fled Iraq be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip since the territory “is controlled by a terror organization,” Ben-Hillel said. Palestinian Information Minister Information Minister Riad Malki applauded the Israeli decision and called for Israel to permit the entry into Palestinian areas of more emigrees from Iraq in the future.

“We demand the entry for all Palestinians from Iraq because of the dangers they live under,” he said. “This is a great accomplishment, and symbolic.”

Since the start of the war in Iraq in 2003, some 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighboring Syria and Jordan. An equal number are displaced within Iraq. Only a fraction has been admitted to the West, which fears a flood of refugees or letting in potential terrorists.

About 18,000 Palestinians are among the Iraq residents who fled their homes due to the fighting, Malki said. The Palestinian community in Iraq has been targeted by Shiites in the chaotic years since President Saddam Hussein fell, since they were seen as his allies, the Haaretz said.

Most of the Palestinians living in Iraq left Palestine in 1948, during the war that led to the establishment of Israel, Haaretz said. Iraqi officers stationed in the West Bank forced Palestinians living in the Haifa area to join their army, and then allowed them and their families to enter Iraq, the daily said. But they were never granted citizenship.

Israel is preparing to remove some of the roadblocks and checkpoints that restrict Palestinian travel in the West Bank, officials said yesterday. Security sources said a list of barriers and restrictions was being compiled to be presented to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak for final approval.

“The urgency is clear to everybody. These measures should be taken soon,” a senior source said on condition of anonymity.