GAZA CITY, 24 June 2006 — The Gaza Strip’s sole gateway to the world that bypasses Israel — the territory’s border with Egypt — was reopened yesterday after an ongoing Israeli security alert was lifted, officials said. EU monitors who oversee the Rafah terminal had been unable to get to work earlier yesterday, and the Rafah liaison office had been closed because of an ongoing alert at a separate crossing.
The monitors were finally able to travel to their jobs when the Israeli Army opened the Kerem Shalom crossing to the EU representatives, and allowed an adjacent liaison office, which oversees Rafah, to reopen. “The European observers arrived and we opened the crossing in both directions,” said Samir Abu Nahl, the head of the Rafah terminal. “Everything’s up and running now,” monitors spokesman Nigel Milverton confirmed to AFP.
The Rafah border was open from 3:34 p.m. (1234 GMT) until 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) Thursday, allowing about 1,500 people to cross both ways, after being shut all day Wednesday because of the Kerem Shalom alert, Miverton said. Hundreds of people trying to cross in and out of the Gaza Strip were stranded at the terminal yesterday, including the sick en route to Egypt for medical treatment, said Palestinian officials at the terminal. The European Union has deployed observers at Rafah, at the request of the Palestinian Authority and Israel, to monitor agreements on border traffic.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas accused Israel of closing the crossing “to put more pressure on the Palestinian people.” “The Europeans should return to their jobs and the work should be resumed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israel and Syria traded barbs Thursday, hours after the international Red Cross ended a 56-year deadlock within the global humanitarian movement by voting to admit Israeli and Palestinian aid groups. “This brings a historical injustice to an end,” Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon told AFP, before slamming Damascus for what he said had been attempts to set political hurdles in the way of a solution of a “purely humanitarian” issue. An international conference in Geneva voted by a wide margin in the early hours of Thursday to change the statutes of the Red Cross movement and give a green light for Israeli and Palestinian membership.
In another development, the European Commission announced yesterday plans to release 105 million euros in aid to Palestinians, bypassing their Hamas-led government, with the first funds to be paid out by early July. The Middle East diplomatic quartet — the EU, United Nations, United States, and Russia — endorsed on Sunday the new funding “mechanism” for cash-strapped Palestinians that will distribute money without reaching Hamas, which refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel.
“The temporary international mechanism will bring relief, addressing urgent basic needs,” said External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner in Brussels. “The EU is making good on its promises to continue as a reliable partner for the Palestinian people.
