• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Opening Rafah Single-Handedly Would Be Big Political Mistake- Palestinian Adviser

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Maj-Gen Jibril al-Rujub, Palestinian presidential national security adviser, has commented on his meeting with an Egyptian security delegation at the Rafah border crossing on 20 September in a five-minute interview with Palestinian TV at 1811 gmt on the same day.

Al-Rujub says: "Naturally, we have two issues at hand: first, opening the border crossing permanently, and second, the current urgent issue of the huge number of Palestinians who came to the Gaza Strip to spend the summer vacation or celebrate the Israeli withdrawal. This is in addition to the students, who will depart to Egypt next Friday and Saturday according to an agreement reached with the Egyptian brothers."

He goes on to say that "there will be no direct or indirect Israeli presence at the border crossing". He notes that the Palestinians do not oppose the presence of a third party at the border crossing based on a "specific mandate".

When queried about recurring statements by Palestinian officials that the Rafah border crossing will be opened within 48 hours, Al- Rujub says: "I believe that we will be making a big political mistake if we endeavour to impose a status quo through opening the crossing single-handedly." He adds: "We cannot open the crossing without coordination with the Egyptian brothers, who have obligations exactly as we have obligations towards the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. Based on this, opening the crossing will not officially take place without coordination."

Al-Rujub says that a Palestinian-Egyptian "summit" will be held on 28 September to tackle cooperation in all domains and the issue of the Rafah border crossing.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

More News in this Category