By NNN-KUNA
Washington : Egypt Ambassador to the United States Nabil Fahmi said that his countrys border with Gaza should be open but not breached.
“Egypt cannot participate in a situation focused on changing Palestinian policy through Palestinian suffering”, said Fahmi in a speech before the Palestinian Center in Washington Friday.
Fahmi said the border with Gaza must be open, transparent and secure but not breached.
After Israel increased its blockade on Gaza, the Rafah crossing was blown up by Hamas militants on January 23 before Egyptian authorities sealed it again on February 3.
Fahmi said that all parties involved in the Gaza crisis must deal with “the immediate shorter problems and not forget it is part of a larger problem” and described this situation as political, humanitarian and security related.
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch visited Cairo last week where he met with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to discuss ways to control the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza.
Fahmi noted that there is no problem in finding modalities to regulate the border but the problem is in the lack of “political will”.
The United States supports a proposal by Palestinian Authoritys Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stating that Palestinian security forces take control of Gazas borders with Egypt and the West Bank.
“A siege on long term basis is a policy of failure”, he said describing the Israeli blockade on Gaza as “inefficient”.
“That collective punishment tool cannot continue”, concluded Fahmi.