Palestinian Official Says Israel Evading Gaza Strip “Responsibility”
Text of report by privately-owned, pro-Fatah Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam website on 3 February
[Report from Jerusalem by Al-Ayyam correspondent Abd-al-Ra'uf Arna'ut: "A Palestinian Official to Al-Ayyam: "There is Concurrence with the Egyptian Leadership on Confronting Israel's Plan to Evade its Responsibility for the Strip"]
A senior Palestinian official told Al-Ayyam that the Egyptian and Palestinian leaderships’ views are identical on the need to block the Israeli plans to evade its responsibility for the Gaza Strip as an occupation force and try to transfer this responsibility to Egypt.
He said the Egyptian leadership insists that the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt be opened under an international agreement signed in 2005. He added that Egypt informed a Hamas Movement delegation that the PNA’s takeover of the Rafah crossing must not be blocked.
The official, who chose not to be named, said that after the Egyptian leadership learned the stands of the Palestinian leadership and the Hamas Movement, and in light of Egypt’s current contacts with effective parties, namely the United States, EU, and Israel, the result of this Egyptian effort will be clear in the coming days.
He noted that Egypt asserted to the Hamas Movement delegation that repetition of what recently happened on the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip will not be allowed.
According to the Palestinian official, the Egyptian efforts at this stage focus on an attempt to reopen the crossing under the 2005 agreement. This is in addition to Egypt’s efforts to try to reach an agreement on the exchange of Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier who is held captive in Gaza, for prisoners held in Israeli jails.
EU Foreign Policy and Security Chief Javier Solana is supposed to have arrived in Cairo yesterday. In a statement sent to Al-Ayyam, Solana’s office said he would meet with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak today, Sunday, before he meets with Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa “to discuss the latest developments in the region, particularly the situation in Gaza Strip.”
The Europeans are a key party to the 2005 agreement on the Rafah Crossing and they play a monitorial role. A few days ago, the Council of the European Union asserted its readiness to resume its role in the Rafah Crossing in accordance with that agreement.
Accordingly, Solana’s meeting with the Egyptian president today, Sunday, is likely to focus on this European role, should an agreement be reached to reopen the crossing that was closed after the Hamas Movement’s coup in Gaza in the middle of June last year.
The Palestinian official said: “The official Palestinian and Egyptian stands are identical on rejecting the separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, on the basis that they form a uniformity. These stands are also identical on rejecting the Israeli attempts to evade its responsibilities for the Gaza Strip, as an occupation force.”
He added: “What is most serious, however, is this Israeli attempt to evade its responsibilities. The Israeli government attempts to use the current crisis in Gaza to carry out its plan to completely separate the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is a very serious issue.”
The Palestinian official said: “The official Palestinian and Egyptian stands are also identical on the need to ensure that the Gaza Strip residents are not subjected to collective punishment by the Israeli government. They are also identical on rejecting the hungering of our people in Gaza and on the need to provide these people with all their needs and to have their blockade lifted.”
He added: “The two sides’ stands are also identical on the view that the rockets which are fired from Gaza do harm, rather than good, to the Palestinian people. The Israeli government uses these rockets as a pretext to impose a blockade on the Gaza Strip and impose collective punishment on our Palestinian people. If these rockets were not fired, the Israeli government would not dare to impose such a blockade on Gaza.”
Originally published by Al-Ayyam website, Ramallah, in Arabic 3 Feb 08.
(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.