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Gazans cross the border with Egypt on Wednesday as Egyptian security personnel look on. (AP)
Last update - 15:41 24/01/2008
Egypt rejects idea of Israel waiving responsibility for Gaza
By Yoav Stern and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and News Agencies
Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel 

A top Egyptian official said Thursday that Egypt's border with Gaza would go back to normal, and strongly rejected the idea - floated by Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai - that Israel might relinquish all responsibility for the troubled Gaza Strip.


"This is a wrong assumption," Hossam Zaki, the official spokesman for Egypt's foreign ministry, said of Israeli hints that it was thinking of giving up all responsibility for Gaza including supplying electricity, now that the territory's southern border with Egypt is open.
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"The current situation is only an exception and for temporary reasons, Zaki said. "The border will go back to normal."


Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday called on Gazans not to clash with Egyptian security forces guarding the border, a day after ilitants smashed the frontier fence and flooded into Egypt.

"We reject attempts to create crisis with Egyptian security forces in Rafah," Mubarak said. "We know very well our national security considerations. We will not give them up and we will not let anyone harm them or attempt to harm them."

Mubarak also called on Palestinian militants to put an end to their disagreements and work to improve the situation in the impoverished Strip.

"We call on the son of Palestine from all faction to put their nation's suffering above all other considerations," he said.

The Egyptian president also slammed Israel for cutting of fuel supplies to Gaza, saying the peace process "could not afford another failure." He added that Egypt would not all the residents of Gaza to starve or become victims to a humanitarian tragedy.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Thursday on a visit to Israel that while Hamas itself was to blame for the shortages of basic goods in the Gaza Strip, it was up to Egypt to restore order at the border.

"Obviously it is going to be up to the Egyptian government to bring under
control the situation along the border," he said before meeting with Israeli officials.

Hamas says studying possibility of role in official Egypt crossing
Meanwhile, a Hamas spokesman said Thursday that Hamas may seek a role in a future on the Gaza-Egypt border and would prefer an official crossing point over an open border.

"An open border like this has no logic," Hamas government spokesman Taher Nunu said. "We are studying the mechanism of having an official crossing
point."

However, it is not clear whether Egypt would acquiesce to such a suggestion.

Mubarak has been under intense public pressure at home in recent days to alleviate the suffering of Gazans under blockade, but Egypt would likely be reluctant to have an open border with a territory ruled by Islamic militants.

Egyptian riot police gathered at the Gaza-Egypt border on Thursday, directing traffic away from the frontier fence smashed by the Hamas
militants a day earlier.

Dozens of Egyptian police in helmets and with search dogs used batons to beat the hoods of private cars and pickup trucks that massed at the border to carry Palestinians further into Egyptian territory.

Thousands of Palestinians continued to flow through the wrecked border fence into Egypt on foot, however, and Egyptian forces also deployed south of the Sinai town of El-Arish in order to prevent Palestinians from traveling further into the country.

Egyptian forces who were posted along Gaza's southern border on Sunday stood by as Palestinian masses poured through Wednesday to stock up on goods in short supply due to an Israeli blockade.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry said Thursday the Rafah crossing would remain open as long as there continues to be a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, CNN reported.

"We are not opening the Rafah crossing just for everybody to cross - we're opening it because it's a very dire humanitarian situation," said ministry spokesman Hassam Zaki.

An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said however, that he was "not happy" with the fact that his Hamas rivals can now freely enter Egypt.

On Wednesday, U.S. and Arab officials said Wednesday that Egypt had assured the United States it would soon reseal its border with the Gaza Strip.

An Arab diplomat said Egypt told the U.S. it expects the Palestinians' exodus from Gaza to end by midday Thursday, but a senior U.S. official said Egypt has not been precise about when it will stop the flow.

Egyptian drivers idled their pickup trucks just inside Egyptian territory, charging incoming Palestinians 20 Egyptian pounds ($3.60) for a ride into downtown Rafah and neighboring El Arish.

A few dozen Palestinians could also be seen returning to Gaza loaded with groceries. Men stood on the border, handing bags of supplies across to people inside the Palestinian territory.

A Hamas spokesman said the organization had paid 16,000 government employees early, and paid an aid stipend to 8,500 farmers so they could go shopping.

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