by Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff
Aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says deal will see reopening of Rafah crossing • Hamas official indicates group will oppose deal • Egyptian officials do not immediately comment on matter.
Palestinians wait to cross
the border to the Egyptian side at the Rafah crossing
|
Photo credit: AP  |
A senior Palestinian official on Monday said
the Palestinian Authority has reached an agreement with Egypt to reopen
the Gaza Strip's main border crossing in an arrangement meant to bypass
the territory's Hamas rulers.
Azzam al-Ahmad, an aide to Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the deal was reached recently in
Cairo. He said it aims to open the Rafah crossing "to the maximum
possible" to allow the movement of students, laborers, medical patients
and even commercial goods.
Such a deal could bring great relief to Gaza,
whose borders are largely sealed by Israeli and Egyptian closures. It
could also mark a setback for Hamas, which violently seized control of
Gaza from Abbas in 2007. However, a top Hamas official gave the plan a
cool reception, raising questions about its viability.
The Rafah crossing is Gaza's main gateway to
the outside world. Few Gazans are permitted to travel through the
Israeli border to the north, though Israeli crossings are used to
transfer cargo into Gaza.
Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing virtually
sealed since the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed
Morsi, who was a close ally of Hamas. Due to the closure, thousands of
Gazans are waiting to travel abroad.
Azzam said the deal would be implemented in stages beginning in the near future, but he gave no further details.
Hamas remains in full control of Gaza, and the
Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, has no presence
there. Repeated attempts to reconcile the rival governments have failed.
With his announcement, Azzam appeared to be
trying to put pressure on Hamas to accept the deal. If Hamas doesn't
agree, he said, "Hamas will have to answer to the Gazan people."
Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official in Gaza,
said the group has not been officially informed of the deal, but
indicated it would oppose it. "Any arrangement in Rafah cannot be done
without proper coordination," he said.
Egyptian officials could not immediately be
reached for comment. But in a statement issued after a Nov. 8 meeting
between Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Cairo
confirmed the issue had been discussed.
El-Sissi "made it clear that the return of the
Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip and its assumption of
supervision over the crossings, in line with international resolutions,
will have a positive impact," it said at the time.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=29751
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