Hamas’s Al-Zahhar: Al-Arish Crisis to End Soon, Border to Be Closed 3 February

Text of report by independent, non-governmental Palestinian Ma’an News Agency website

["Al-Zahhar: Rafah crossing to remain Palestinian-Egyptian in spite of obstacles, crisis of stranded people in Al-Arish to be resolved soon" - Ma'an headline]

Gaza, 2 February: Senior Hamas leader Mahmud al-Zahhar said that the movement is determined “to maintain Rafah crossing as Palestinian-Egyptian in spite of the obstacles and difficulties created by Israeli and US parties.” Al-Zahhar, who returned to Gaza Strip from Cairo with the Hamas delegation, said that “Egypt promised to do its utmost to solve the problem and keep the crossing open.”

Al-Zahhar went on to say that the problem of those stranded in Al- Arish will be solved shortly by allowing them to travel to their destination via Egypt, adding that “the names of all the sick people who will go to hospitals in Egypt and other places will be listed.” Al-Zahhar called on the citizens in Gaza Strip to avoid using violence against the Egyptian forces deployed along the Palestinian- Egyptian border.

Commenting on the renewal of dialogue between Fatah and Hamas, Al- Zahhar made clear that Egypt demanded that the internal Palestinian dialogue be resumed without any preconditions, and that those in charge must rise to the level of responsibility.

Hamas organized a women’s parade, which marched towards the Rafah crossing in denunciation of the stifling siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and in rejection of the crossings agreement signed in 2005, which the movement described as harming the Palestinian people’s rights. The women demanded that the Rafah crossing be exclusively Egyptian-Palestinian, and that the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip be lifted.

[A related report by Palestinian Information Centre, website of Hamas in Arabic, says at 1419 gmt that "Al-Zahhar has announced that security men on both sides will start to close the Egyptian- Palestinian borders on 3 February, completing the measures needed to reorganize traffic in and out of Gaza Strip."]

Originally published by As listed.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.