By Xinhua
Gaza : Egypt promised Hamas to officially reopen a Rafah crossing point linking Gaza and Egypt, a spokesman for the deposed Hamas administration which rules Gaza, said on Sunday.
“Our Egyptian brothers affirmed that the siege on the
Palestinian people can not continue,” Taher al-Nounou said, referring to talks between Hamas and Egypt finished Saturday.
Al-Nounou revealed that Hamas and the Egyptian leadership agreed on several points involving the reopening of Rafah, Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world bypassing Israel, and the mechanism of reopening the crossing.
“We showed the Egyptians our vision and we agreed that any obstacles and role for the (Israeli) occupation should be removed,” al-Nounou said, rejecting to give more information.
Meanwhile, al-Nounou called on European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who is in Cairo for talks on Rafah crossing, “to shoulder his responsibilities towards the crossing to end the siege on the Palestinians.”
Hamas seized control of Gaza after routing the security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by force last June.
In the wake of Hamas’ takeover of Gaza, EU monitors, who have been acting as a third party at the crossing, left the border andthe crossing remained sealed off until Hamas militants blew up the borders on Jan. 23, allowing the Palestinians to enter Sinai for shopping and stocking up.
“We hope that the Palestinian people will be allowed to travel throughout Rafah crossing in order to prevent another storm of the border wall,” al-Nounou said.