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Egyptian soldiers close part of a destroyed section of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. (Reuters)
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RAFAH — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has won support from Egypt, the European Union and the United States to give his forces control over the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt rather than Hamas, which already commands the ground.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit endorsed Abbas's proposal to deploy his own, Western-trained forces at the crossing along with European monitors, Reuters reported.
Abul Gheit telephoned US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to express Egypt's "determination to take gradual control of the border," his ministry said.
Since January 23, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt after Palestinians blew up the border wall to allow the territory's 1.5 million people to stock up on food in short supply due to a crippling Israeli blockade.
The flood has significantly slowed over the past several days amid bad weather, Egyptian efforts to re-seal the border, and with shops on Egypt's side of the border having run out of supplies.
Egyptian and Hamas forces used concrete and fencing to close two gaps on Monday, January 28. Two other breaches in the frontier remain open, an entry and an exit, under joint Hamas and Egyptian guard.
Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, does not want to be seen as aiding the Israeli blockade.
However, it also fears for its national security and sovereign territories in hosting so many Palestinians mainly in Sinai.
The Rafah border crossing with Egypt has largely been closed since June after Hamas seized control of the territory and the European Union pulled its monitors out of the Gaza Strip.
EU, US Backing
The EU said on Monday it would consider returning its monitors to the Rafah crossing.
In a statement, EU foreign ministers said the bloc was "ready to consider resuming its monitoring mission in Rafah" under that deal — provided Abbas, Egypt and Israel all approve.
European diplomats said the EU would only send monitors back to the border crossing at Rafah under the auspices of Abbas's Palestinian Authority.
Before Hamas's takeover, EU monitors had been posted at Rafah under a deal with Egypt and Israel in 2005 that aimed to allay Israel's concerns about arms and fighters coming into Gaza when it pulled out its own troops and settlers.
In addition to the border terminal at Rafah, officials told Reuters the EU was exploring the possibility of establishing monitoring arrangements at Gaza's crossings with Israel,
Israel has also been cool to the idea, arguing that Abbas's security forces are no match for Hamas's.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also offered support for Abbas.
"We do support ... the concept of a Palestinian Authority presence to begin to introduce some order to that border," Rice told reporters.
On Monday, US President George W. Bush, whose administration considers Hamas a "terrorist group", had a blunt message for Palestinians suffering from the prolonged Israeli blockade.
"Look what Hamas has brought you," he told ABC News Radio. "They're delivering you misery."
Bush's comments were his first public remarks on the Gaza crisis since Israel's punitive lockdown of the territory.
The White House has previously described Israel's blockade of Gaza — where most of its 1.5 million population rely on aid — was an act of justifiable self-defence in the face of rocket attacks from the territory into Israel.
Unacceptable
But the move faces strong opposition from Hamas and the presence of neither force was imminent, given the group's command on the ground.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri reacted angrily to Cairo's endorsement of Abbas's proposal, calling it an "Israeli-led international conspiracy with the participation of some regional parties," which would exclude them from controlling the border.
"We tell all parties that we will not allow the return of old conditions at the crossing," Abu-Zuhri told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Gaza's border crossings have become the main battleground in a larger factional power struggle pitting Hamas against Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, home to 2.5 million Palestinians.
Abbas, whose forces Hamas routed from Gaza in June 2007, has ruled out dialogue with Hamas unless they relinquish their control of the Gaza Strip.
Both Hamas leaders and Abbas are expected in Cairo on Wednesday for talks with senior Egyptian officials on how to re-establish control over the breached Gaza border.
Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar, whose son was killed in a deadly Israeli missile attack earlier this month, will head the movement's delegation to Egypt.
A Hamas source said those openings could be closed on Wednesday provided talks in Cairo with Egyptian officials "prove positive" for Hamas by giving it a say on the border in future.
Salam Fayyad, prime minister of Abbas's West Bank-based government, countered that there was "no need for new arrangements" and cautioned Hamas against "interfering in a way that could obstruct the reopening of the border crossings".
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