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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Life under occupation Home page  back Print  Send To friend U.S., EU warn Israel over closure of Gaza border Adam Entous Reuters 4 Oct 2006 http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L04654042 JERUSALEM, Oct 5 (Reuters) - U.S. and European security officials have warned Israel that European states may opt to pull their monitors out of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt unless Israel agrees to keep it open. Rafah, the Palestinians` only crossing to the outside world that does not require passing through Israel, has been closed for all but 11 days since June 25, when Gazan gunmen seized an Israeli soldier and killed two others in a cross-border raid. In a letter to Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, the officials said Rafah`s continued closure `could well` prompt EU member states to `seriously question the desirability of maintaining` their monitoring mission there. The monitors are required for the crossing to function under a deal brokered last year by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in the region again on Wednesday for talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The letter -- signed by U.S. security coordinator Keith W. Dayton and EU monitoring mission chief Pietro Pistolese -- warned Israel that Rafah`s frequent closure would also `make it very hard to convince the EU to send monitors to Karni`, Gaza`s main commercial crossing, as Washington has proposed. The letter was dated Sept. 29 and was released during Rice`s current visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank. After meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rice said she would try `to make sure that some of those crossings are indeed open longer and more frequently so that economic activity can return,` though she offered no details. Rafah was temporarily opened for some travellers on Wednesday and was scheduled to open again on Thursday, but the European monitors said it was unclear when it would open thereafter and for how long. RICE CHAMPIONED RAFAH`S OPENING Rice personally brokered the deal last year to boost the flow of people and goods into and out of Gaza after Israel`s withdrawal from the impoverished coastal strip. `The fact that the members of the (monitoring) mission have been prevented from performing their duties for three months is not in accordance with the spirit of the agreement,` Dayton and Pistolese wrote. `The Rafah crossing is not a security risk.` Senior officials in the Hamas-led Palestinian government have used the crossing to bring millions of dollars in cash into Gaza to get around a Western aid embargo. A U.S.-backed plan for Karni calls for deploying 90 foreign monitors and expanding the crossing at a cost of $19 million. Israel has shut Karni frequently this year because of what it says are threats from Palestinian militants. Israeli security officials have welcomed the Karni proposal but said it would remain on hold until the soldier captured by Palestinian militants was freed. Aid groups say the closures at Karni have worsened humanitarian conditions in densely populated Gaza, home to 1.4 million people. A strike by Palestinian government workers over unpaid wages has further slowed operations at Karni. Israel says it is allowing goods and trucks to pass into Gaza through other crossings. A European official said pulling the monitors out of Rafah was one option being looked at for when the current agreement for the crossing expires in November. Other options include relocating the monitors, who have been based in southern Israel, to Egypt. RH Links to the latest articles in this section Unrest continues in Shu`fat; overnight raids, youth detained Israel slaps six-month travel ban on Palestinian map expert Don`t Say We Didn`t Know # 199