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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas: discussions on border reopening made headway |
| 2008-03-14 |
| (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday said discussions on reopening a crossing point between Egypt and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have made progress. "An essential progress was made in the talks between Hamas and the Egyptian officials regarding Rafah crossing," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. A final agreement, however, on the mechanisms of running the passage was not reached, he said. Abu Zuhri disclosed that the 2005 U.S.-brokered deal, which stipulates the presence of European Union (EU) monitors as a third party on the border passage but rules out any Hamas involvement in the management of the crossing, will not be reactivated. "It is not possible to exceed our vision and stance in this regard... Hamas will have a central role in any arrangements to reopen the crossing," said Abu Zuhri. The Rafah crossing has been closed since June last year when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip by force after routing security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The EU monitors also withdrew from the terminal following the takeover. Hamas blasted open the Rafah border in January to allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to stock up on daily necessities in short supply due to Israeli blockade and has demanded a role in running the border. Recently, Cairo has intensified efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants. The deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya on Wednesday publicly called for a ceasefire with Israel and lay out his conditions for an interval in fighting that has killed at least 120 Palestinians in recent weeks. Haneya demanded an end to Israeli military activity in Gaza, a lifting of Israeli sanctions and the opening of Gaza's borders, which have been sealed since Hamas seized control of the area last June. Meanwhile, Ismail Radwan, another spokesman for Hamas, said his movement did not oppose that pro-Abbas forces be deployed on the crossing. But he lay out the condition that the security personnel "must be pure and acceptable to Hamas." Radwan's remarks followed Israeli reports that Hamas and Egypt had agreed to deploy the Presidential Guard on the crossing. Radwan did not confirm the report. |
| Posted by:Fred |