US, EU warn Israel over closure of Gaza border
Reuters, Jerusalem
US and European security officials have told Israel that European states may withdraw their monitors from the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt unless Israel agrees to keep it open. Rafah is the Palestinians' only crossing to the outside world that does not require passing through Israel. It has been closed for all but 12 days since June 25 when Gazan gunmen seized an Israeli soldier and killed two others in a cross-border raid. In a letter to Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, the officials said Rafah's continued closure could well prompt EU member states to "seriously question the desirability of maintaining" their monitoring mission there. The monitors are required for the crossing to function under a deal brokered last year by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in the region again on Wednesday for talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The withdrawal of the monitors would amount to a diplomatic slap for Israel as well as the United States. The September 29 letter -- signed by US security coordinator Lieutenant-General Keith W. Dayton and EU monitoring mission chief Pietro Pistolese -- warned Israel that Rafah's frequent closure would also "make it very hard to convince the EU to send monitors to Karni," Gaza's main commercial crossing, as Washington has proposed.
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