Hamas says will control Gaza-Egypt border transit
(Adds details)
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
RAFAH, Gaza Strip, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Hamas agreed on Saturday to Egyptian calls to control the flow of Palestinians through the breached Gaza border and expects Egypt to seal remaining gaps in the frontier wall, a Hamas official said.
Gunmen from the Islamist group which rules Gaza blew up metal barricades on Jan. 23 to allow Gazans relief from an Israeli-led blockade. Since then Hamas has been under pressure from Egypt to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have crossed the border.
"We will restore control over this border, in cooperation with Egypt, and gradually," Mahmoud al-Zahar said at the border town of Rafah, adding he expected the remaining gap in the border wall to be sealed as early as Sunday.
He said Hamas wanted Israel excluded from the future running of the crossing: "We do not accept that the Israeli occupation will continue to have any control."
The fall of the Rafah wall forced Egypt to balance sympathy with the privations in Gaza with demands from the Islamist group's Western-backed rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and from Israel that the border be restored.
"We have agreed on mechanisms to resolve the current problem, such that the previous experience, where a party can control the border, will not be repeated," Zahar said without elaborating.
Egyptian officials were not immediately available for comment on Zahar's statements, which were the first sign Hamas was yielding to pressure for the border to be sealed again.
The official crossing at Rafah used to be run by Abbas's forces under EU supervision and with Israeli security agents vetting travellers via video link. Egypt shut down its side of the terminal after Hamas seized control of Gaza last June.
Hamas wants the terminal to resume operations, but with Hamas in charge on the Gaza side -- perhaps jointly with Abbas. Abbas has rejected such proposals and won U.S., European and Arab backing to take control of the Rafah crossing without Hamas, though it remained unclear how he would do so, given that Hamas runs Gaza.
HAMAS BACKING DOWN?
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak welcomed the first flood of Gazans as guests, but Cairo has since tried to turn back the flood of undocumented Palestinians and restore the border -- which bulldozer-riding Hamas men had kept open.
Egyptians security forces were holding dozens of Palestinian cars and trucks on the Egyptian side of Rafah to prevent them from going to other towns, security officials said.
One Egyptian officer told Gazans crossing into Egypt to make it a quick visit because the remaining border gap would be sealed completely by Sunday morning.
A senior Abbas aide said Cairo was firm that any reopening of the Rafah terminal would be under the previous arrangement.
"The Egyptian brothers told Abu Mazen (Abbas) that they are supportive of the 2005 agreement. They did not talk about any future role for Hamas at the crossing," the aide told Reuters.
An EU official involved in the monitoring programme said the EU was only considering sending its monitors back to Rafah as part of an agreement with Abbas, Egypt and Israel.
The official said the EU would not deal with Hamas, which the bloc, like Israel and the United States, considers a terrorist organisation for refusing to give up fighting the Jewish state.
Javier Solana, foreign policy chief for the European Union, was scheduled to visit Egypt on Sunday for talks.
Zahar said Cairo had agreed to Hamas requests to grant travel permits to Gazans who entered Egypt in search of medical treatment or on voyages to third countries. Other issues regarding the border were further from being resolved, he said.
"Some issues may need a few days for resolution. Others may need a week, because they are in need of answers from different parties," he said. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia, Egypt; Writing by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Caroline Drees)
