Last update - 00:00 28/07/2007
Israel to allow Palestinians stranded in Egypt back to Gaza
By News Agencies
Israel has agreed to allow hundreds of Palestinians stranded in Egypt since Hamas' June takeover of Gaza to pass into Israel and then into the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said Saturday.
"Due to the absence of Palestinian security forces at Rafah Crossing, and amid Egyptian, Israeli and European refusals to reopen the crossing, we agreed with the Israelis to let the people cross at an Israeli crossing," said Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Minister Ashraf el-Ajrami.
Palestinian Information Minister Riad Maliki said that some of the 6,000 Palestinians who have been waiting in the Egyptian border town of Rafah would be allowed to pass at the beginning of next week.
Hamas denounced the deal, arguing that it allowed Israel to decide who could enter Gaza. Hamas officials and supporters would presumably not be allowed to enter through Israel.
"Israel has agreed in principle to the passage of the Palestinians, and must approve of the names of potential passengers on lists the Palestinians must compile," Maliki said.
The Palestinians would pass from Egypt into Israel through the rarely-used Al-Oja crossing, then into the northern Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing, he said.
El-Ajrami said that Egyptian buses would carry the stranded Palestinians from Sinai desert to another Israeli border crossing between Israel and Egypt, from where they would be brought back to the Gaza Strip.
"It is not the first time that such a mechanism is used. Two years ago, hundreds of Palestinian pilgrims left the Gaza Strip to Saudi Arabia via the same crossing," said el-Ajrami.
Israel did not immediately comment on the deal. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev would only say that Israel was searching for creative solutions to return the Palestinians to Gaza.
"No one wants to see those people trapped indefinitely," Regev said.
Israel has already approved a list of 627 Palestinians who will be allowed to cross at the beginning of next week, according to Hani Jabbour, a Palestinian security coordinator stationed the Egyptian side of Rafah.
"On Sunday, 100 will cross and the rest will pass on Monday," Jabbour said. "Further transfers through such a route are expected in the future," he continued.
The Palestinians have been unable to return to Gaza because of the closure of the Rafah border terminal between Egypt and the Gaza Strip since June 9. The border terminal was jointly controlled by Egypt, Israel, the Palestinians, and overseen by European monitors.
Israel and Egypt have rejected Hamas demands since its bloody takeover in mid-June to have partial control of the terminal.
Hamas denounced the deal, saying the group must have a say in Palestinian movement.
"There is only the Rafah border crossing," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. "The use of any other border crossing increases Israeli control over the Gaza Strip."
Hamas had opposed a similar idea in the past, according to which the stranded Palestinians would have crossed through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom passage into the Gaza Strip.
Hamas militants attacked the Kerem Shalom crossing with mortar shells in response to the idea.
Hundreds of the stranded Palestinians in Egypt have been living in harsh conditions in the Sinai desert. International aid groups have repeatedly called for their plight to be speedily resolved.