Fatah: Rafah crossing to open soon

The reopening of the Rafah crossing has been postponed because of issues on the Egyptian side, member of Fatah Central Committee, Azzam Al-Ahmad, explained yesterday.

Rafah was expected to open yesterday, however this was postponed due to “sensitive circumstances” in Egypt, Al-Ahmad explained, adding that the PA is ready to open the crossing.

Under the terms of the Palestinian reconciliation deal, the Kerem Shalom crossing would also be reopened, he added.

The Fatah officials, who is in charge of the reconciliation file, claimed that opening the Rafah crossing would be based on the terms of the 2005 agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

“We contacted the Egyptians over the past two days to agree on a date to open the crossing,” he said. He did not give details of Egypt’s reply.

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He called for Hamas and the other Palestinian factions, who consider the delay in re-opening the Rafah crossing an obstacle to the reconciliation, “not to use the suffering of Gaza residents” to increase tensions in the Strip.

“The Rafah crossing has been closed for ten years,” he said, “it was only opened a few times in cooperation between Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt.”

Senior Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardaweel said: “We agreed that the Rafah crossing be opened on November 15 and did not mention the 2005 deal which stipulates the existence of EU observers at the crossing.”