EU pushes for deal to reopen Gaza-Egypt border

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The European Union said on Monday it was pushing for agreement between Cairo, Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to reopen Egypt's border crossing with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Israeli and European officials said one proposal under consideration would seek to open the Rafah border crossing to cargo, expanding on its former role for travelers only.

Israeli defense officials said that could be acceptable to the Jewish state as a way of limiting its responsibility for supplying Gaza's 1.5 million residents. But Egypt opposes any attempt by Israel to shift the burden, Western diplomats said.

Israel withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but controls its air space, coastal waters and crossings for goods. The result is that Palestinians and others say Israel retains Geneva Convention obligations toward Gaza as an occupying power.

Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, told reporters in Jerusalem his bloc's border monitors were ready to return to Rafah after a nearly nine-month absence provided any agreement includes Egypt. A 2005 Rafah accord did not include Cairo.

Solana declined to say whether Rafah's role could be expanded beyond passengers. "We are working on that, and working on that with intensity," he told reporters.

Israeli and European officials said implementing any deal on Rafah hinged on averting an escalation of violence between Israel and the Hamas Islamist group, which seized control of Gaza in June after routing Abbas's more secular Fatah forces.

Israel has killed more than 100 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in five days of fighting. Its troops withdrew on Monday, a day before a visit to Israel by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but Israel has threatened to launch a broader offensive if militants continue to fire cross-border rockets.

Hamas, which blasted open the Rafah border with Egypt in January to allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to stock up on items in short supply because of an Israeli-led blockade, has demanded a role in running the border.

Abbas's West Bank-based government wants control and has the backing of the United States and the EU, which shun Hamas as a "terrorist" entity.

"FOOTHOLD"

Abbas's foreign minister said last week that having Palestinian Authority personnel at Rafah would give Abbas's administration a "foothold" again in Gaza.

A senior Israeli government official said Rice's visit could provide an "impetus" for a new arrangement on Rafah. Before arriving in Israel on Tuesday, Rice will hold talks in Cairo.

Israeli officials said the government would be willing to see Rafah open to both goods and people because it would further Israel's goal of disconnecting from Gaza.

Palestinians also have concerns, however, that linking Gaza closer to Egypt could hamper efforts to found a state in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Egypt, which controlled Gaza from 1948 to 1967, is wary of Hamas's connections to its Islamist opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, and of being drawn into supporting Gaza.