WEST BANK: Mahmoud Abbas repeats his call for deploying Palestinian Authority personnel to oversee Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip

Record ID: 560009

  • Title: WEST BANK: Mahmoud Abbas repeats his call for deploying Palestinian Authority personnel to oversee Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip
  • Date: 8th February 2008
  • Summary: (MER-2) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 6, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF FOREIGN MINISTRY IN RAMALLAH SIGN READING: 'MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS' AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER URSULA PLASSNIK ARRIVING IN CAR FOR MEETING WITH PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER RIYAD AL-MALKI AL-MALKI AND PLASSNIK SHAKING HANDS AND ENTERING BUILDING FOR MEETING VARIOUS OF AL-MALKI AND PLASSNIK AT MEETING CONVOY CARRYING AUSTRIAN FM ARRIVING AT THE "MUQATA," THE PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL HEADQUARTERS PLASSNIK GETTING OUT OF CAR AND ENTERING MUQATA VARIOUS PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS AND PLASSNIK MEETING ABBAS AND PLASSNIK WALKING TO PODIUM AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS SAYING: "We reiterate our position that we to resume (responsibility) at the crossings. We, as an authority, are ready to resume our responsibility at the crossings and Hamas should stay away from this subject". JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS SAYING: "Rockets that are being launched at Israel are useless and should be stopped. (There should be) no rockets and the Palestinian people (in Gaza) should not be punished collectively." ABBAS AND PLASSNIK WALKING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 23rd February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA87DYBVEWZQRZ7VLGXAJ0HS1WT
  • Story Text: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday (February 6) Palestinian Authority personnel should oversee Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.

    "We reiterated on our position to resume (responsibility) on the crossings. We, as an authority, are ready to resume our responsibility of the crossings and Hamas should stay away from this subject," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after meeting Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.
    Egyptian forces sealed the last breach in the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday (February 3), stopping an influx of Palestinians into Egypt across a frontier blown open by Hamas Islamists defying an Israeli-led blockade.
    Gazans had flocked to the Egyptian side of Rafah to stock up on goods that were in short supply in the Gaza Strip after Israel tightened border restrictions in a declared bid to pressure Palestinian militants to halt rocket attacks.
    The Rafah crossing, once controlled by the Palestinian Authority and overseen by European monitors, had been largely closed since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in fighting against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group.
    Hamas has demanded a central role in controlling the border with Egypt.
    Abbas condemned Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel but also attacked Israel's policy towards the Gaza Strip, calling on Israel to stop its 'collective punishment' against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

    "Rockets that are being launched at Israel are useless and should be stopped. (There should be) no rockets and the Palestinian people (in Gaza) should not be punished collectively," Abbas said in a joint press conference with Plassnik.
    On Tuesday (February 5), an Israeli air strike on a Hamas security compound killed seven of the militants, whom the group said were holding afternoon prayers. Two other armed members of the movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the border with Egypt.
    The Israeli army said it was responding to Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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