Abbas: Deal close on Rafah crossing

Palestinian and Israeli sources report that they are close to coming to an agreement over the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

"We will put the final touches on the opening of the crossing tomorrow [today]," Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Ramallah yesterday after officials held talks with a EU envoy on the role of European monitors at the crossing.

An Israeli official said "there is momentum" in the talks, but would not say whether a deal was at hand.

Since its evacuation of the Gaza Strip in September, Israel has been under United States pressure to reopen the terminal to Palestinian trade and travel, as a step to encourage peace-making.

Israel had accepted an Egyptian proposal to let Palestinians travel freely via the Rafah terminal with foreign oversight - by EU monitors - but then delayed a cabinet vote on the subject yesterday when disagreement surfaced as to the monitors' role.

An Israeli source said the EU had balked at Israel's demand that its monitors arrest anyone suspected of smuggling arms from Egypt to Gaza militants, while Palestinians objected to Israel's demand to film those who use the crossing.

But Palestinians were optimistic after a flurry of talks by EU envoy Marc Otte, who shuttled between Tel Aviv and Ramallah. Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said after meeting Otte that he hoped to see an agreement "at the earliest possible date."

An aide to Abbas, Rafiq al-Husseini, said that "there will be an agreement very soon" and added that he hoped the crossing would open "in the coming few days."

Otte said after meeting Palestinian officials that the EU was ready to play a "third-party" role at the crossing and monitor Israeli and Palestinian operations there. "Obviously what we will not be doing is taking the place of the Palestinian customs and security officials," he said. "In the end the PA will be in charge of its borders."

Washington hopes a thriving Gaza economy will help the peace-making process according to the road map plan it has proposed.