By Xinhua
Gaza : An aide to deposed Hamas prime minister Ismail Haneya revealed on Thursday that there are talks held between Hamas and Egypt on reopening Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip.
Allaeldien al-A’raj, Haneya’s economical advisor, told the pro-Hamas daily Felastin that the talks held between Haneya’s government and Egypt are semi-official.
Meanwhile, sources close to Hamas in Gaza said that Mahmoud al-Zahar, another Hamas leader and former foreign minister in the Haneya’s cabinet, would soon head for talks again in Cairo with Egyptian officials on re-operating Rafah crossing.
The Rafah terminal, Gaza’s only door to the outside world by passing Israel, has been kept closed since last June when Hamas militants routed rival Fatah’s security forces and seized the Gaza Strip.
On Jan. 23, Hamas militants blew up the metal and cement fence wall of the borders between Gaza and Egypt, allowing hundreds of thousands of Gazans to pour into border towns in Egypt and have a several-day buying spree.
On Jan. 30, al-Zahar led a Hamas delegation to visit Cairo and discuss with Egyptian officials over the issue related to Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Al-A’raj told the newspaper that Hamas doesn’t oppose the presence of the European Union observers at Rafah Crossing. But, “We proposed that they should stay in Egypt in stead of staying in Israel,” he said.
“When there was any security warning, Israel would not allow the Europeans to reach the crossing, and when the Europeans were not there, the crossing was closed,” said al-A’araj. In 2005, an international agreement was reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and allowed the Europeans to monitor Rafah crossing. But the EU monitors left the crossing last June when Hamas seized control of Gaza.
Since late January, Egyptian-hosted talks on reopening the crossing had produced no significant result because Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah opposed any role for Hamas in running Rafah crossing and called for reopening the passage according to the 2005 deal, which put the Palestinian side of the terminal under control by his security forces and the EU monitors.