Thursday, January 31, 2008

Hamas sets Rafah border conditions

Just One More Post!

"A delegation led by Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, has proposed joint Palestinian-Egyptian control of the Rafah crossing.

They set down these conditions on Thursday on the second day of talks in Cairo geared towards resolving the week-old crisis on the Gaza-Egypt border as Egypt continued its mediating role between Hamas and Fatah.

The delegation proposed removing EU observers, maintaining that these observers were in no position to stop Israel from closing the border crossing.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Hamas leader, said these "historical borders" should not be used to impose a seige on the Palestinians.

Other conditions set by Hamas include that the Palestinian role should be determined by an agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The movement also said it was against Israel's veto power to close the crossing.

Hamas further proposed that the entry into and out of Gaza through Rafah should not only be confined to Palestinians carrying identification cards issued by the PA...."

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