CAIRO, 29 January 2008 — Egypt said yesterday that it wanted the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas to control the border crossing with the Gaza Strip, excluding Hamas militants, who have run the territory since June.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the European Union and the United States it was important that Israel cooperate with the efforts to control the border crossings “through the deployment of the Palestinian Authority (forces) and ... European Union monitors,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
“Aboul Gheit stressed in his messages and calls that Egypt was determined to carry out a gradual control of Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip and bring the situation back to the acceptable condition,” ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said.
Hamas, which drove Abbas’ forces out of the coastal strip in June, said yesterday it had assurance from Egypt that Cairo was not committed to returning to a 2005 border deal that gave Abbas control over the crossing. Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo on Sunday welcomed Abbas’ proposal to control the border.
Abbas and Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal are expected in Cairo this week to discuss the issue with Egyptian officials. Political analyst Amr El-Choubaki said he believed Hamas could eventually agree on a partial presence of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.
Hamas Under Siege
“Hamas is under siege,” he said. “It has a chance to take cover behind the Palestinian Authority.” The Egyptian position provided the group with an opportunity to revise its policies in Gaza.
Egyptian state-run newspapers set the grounds for Meshaal’s expected visit by launching scathing attacks against Hamas, accusing it of undermining Egypt’s national security.
Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, editor of Al-Gomhuria daily, said Hamas was serving Israel by exporting the problem of Gaza to Egypt. He told Egyptians at the border town of Rafah that money used by Gazans to shop in Egypt were mostly counterfeit.
Egypt Starts Sealing Border
Meanwhile, the number of Palestinians crossing into Egypt from Gaza slowed yesterday as authorities tried to control the flow by sealing parts of the blown-up border and stopping supply trucks reaching Rafah.
Egyptian security forces erected barbed wire along one crossing in the divided border town as Hamas militants stood nearby, although hundreds of Palestinians managed to cross through other breaches, mainly on foot.
Several hundred thousand Palestinians have swarmed into Egypt since militants blew up the Rafah barricades on Tuesday night after a punitive Israeli lockdown of the Hamas-run territory cut vital fuel and aid supplies.
In Cairo, a security source said that Egyptian authorities have turned back around 3,000 Palestinians trying to reach Cairo and other cities since the border was breached. The Palestinians were stopped and asked to turn back after traveling past El-Arish, 35 kilometers from the border town of Rafah, the furthest point they were allowed to reach to stock up on goods, the source said. Road blocks have been set up across Sinai, particularly on the roads leading out of the peninsula and on to mainland Egypt.
Shops in Rafah are running out of stocks after Egypt, on Sunday, began preventing trucks coming from Cairo to border towns. “We are mostly missing vaccinations for the children which ran out on the first day,” said one pharmacist in Rafah. “We have ordered a shipment but authorities have blocked it at the Peace Bridge,” which leads into Sinai.
Israel said on Sunday it was in talks with Egypt on how to seal the border with Gaza, which has been increasingly isolated since Hamas seized control of the tiny strip. Israel imposed a full blockade of the impoverished territory on Jan. 17 but began allowing supplies of fuel and aid back in five days later amid international alarm over the situation. Israel, which imposed the blockade in response to militant rocket fire, has become increasingly concerned about unfettered access in and out of Gaza by Hamas.
EU Ministers Express Concern
At a meeting in Brussels, European Union (EU) foreign ministers expressed deep concern about the chaos on the Gaza-Egypt border and unveiled a new plan for getting aid to the Palestinians.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the 27-member bloc needed to encourage Israel “to do all that is necessary to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the population of Gaza.”
He and his colleagues said the EU would continue to provide humanitarian assistance and “stands ready to assist in the economic rehabilitation of Gaza.”
The EU’s executive body announced it had set up a new mechanism — dubbed PEGASE — which from Feb. 1 would channel aid to help build a Palestinian state.
