Palestinians and Egypt blame each other as Rafah crossing shuts

Palestinians say they decided to suspend operations after three days of confusion and coordination problems at the crossing.

Palestinians wait in vain to cross into Egypt at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

GAZA CITY // Palestinian officials have suspended operations at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in protest at what they say is Egyptian lack of cooperation at the terminal.

Palestinian officials said yesterday that they had halted operations on their side of the border crossing, after disagreements about capacity and coordination.

The crossing was closed on Saturday, with the Palestinians saying Egypt halted operations without warning, stranding angry Palestinian travellers on the Gaza side of the terminal, unable to cross into Sinai.

But yesterday morning, it was Palestinian officials who closed the crossing, with terminal head Ayub Abu Shaar saying it would remain shut until officials on both sides came to an agreement on its operation.

A senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused the Egyptian side of foot-dragging.

"We gave the Egyptian side our requests yesterday and we haven't had a response yet," he said.

"Operations have been suspended until the Egyptian side responds to our requests, which are the implementation of the decision to open the crossing, an increase in the number of travellers, speeding up operations, shorter waiting times for travellers and an agreement on the working hours of the crossing."

Earlier, Mr Abu Shaar said the Palestinians had decided to suspend operations after three days of confusion and coordination problems at the crossing.

He cited the slow processing of travellers and Egypt's decision to close the crossing on Saturday, which the Palestinians said was done without consultation.

"The reopening of the crossing will be announced after these problems are solved," he said.

On Saturday, Mr Abu Shaar said the crossing was closed without warning, with phone calls to the Egyptian side going unanswered as hundreds of would-be travellers massed at the Palestinian side of the border.

According to a security source in Egypt, the crossing was closed for renovation work that was to have been completed on Friday.

Egyptian security and state television later said the crossing had reopened, but only for pedestrians, as the works prevented the passage of vehicles.

Palestinian officials said the border was still closed, and Hamas police had moved Palestinian travellers away from the frontier fence.

Yesterday, a senior Egyptian official said Rafah was "open in both directions" including for vehicles, but that the Palestinian side had shut down operations in Gaza.

"Passage from Egypt to the Gaza Strip is functioning normally, but no Palestinians have arrived in Egypt because Hamas has closed the terminal on the pretext of examining, with the Egyptians, the mechanism for its operation," he added.

Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing last month, ending its cooperation with a blockade Israel imposed in 2006, after Gaza-based militants snatched an Israeli soldier.

The blockade was tightened in 2007 when the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the territory, with Egypt cooperating by tightly restricting movement through Rafah.

Rafah is Gaza's only border crossing not controlled by Israel, and news of Egypt's decision to reopen it was warmly welcomed in the coastal strip, though Israel strongly criticised the move.

Cairo's decision to permanently reopen Rafah came more than three months after Hosni Mubarak resigned following 18 days of street protests against his rule.