Saudi Shoura Council urges int’l community to stop Israeli aggression, support Palestinians

Sultan Qaboos of Oman sends message to French president

Hamas leader hopes Saudi mediation help patch up Palestinian differences

Abbas-Olmert meeting fails to end Gaza blockade

Egyptian measures to close borders

Israel will not let a humanitarian crisis develop in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, days after the Strip's Islamist Hamas regime blew up the barrier along the border with Egypt.

Hamas' dramatic border breach was the focus of the meeting between Olmert and Abbas at Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem. The prime minister assured Abbas that Israel will not cut off the supply of food and medicine to the Gaza Strip.

Olmert and Abbas agreed they would demand that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak close the ruptured fence separating the northern Sinai from the Gaza Strip; Abbas is scheduled to meet with Mubarak to discuss this on Wednesday.

Following the breach, Israeli defense officials have expressed concerns that militants from the Gaza Strip may attack towns along Israel's long border with Sinai. Palestinian sources who attended the Olmert and Abbas meeting told Maariv that Olmert is seeking to transfer the responsibility for humanitarian problems in the Strip to Egypt.

Hamas has sent a delegation of senior officials, headed by the organization's political leader, Khaled Meshaal, to conduct talks in Saudi Arabia over developments since the border was destroyed. That delegation is also slated to travel to Egypt on Wednesday to discuss procedures for operating the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.

Hamas officials yesterday denied reports that Egypt has agreed to let the Palestinian Authority, headed by Abbas, take control of the border crossing between the Hamas-ruled Strip and Sinai.

One of the organization's spokesmen in the Strip, Sami Abu Zuhri, told reporters that Egyptian officials had told Hamas that they want to work out a new arrangement to manage Gaza's border with Egypt, in talks with Hamas and Abbas' Fatah faction. Israeli officials have said that Olmert has so far rejected the idea of Abbas' government controlling the border crossings.

Any attempts to supplant the vision of Hamas, especially regarding the operation of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, will yield nothing but failure," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.

The previous agreement was "a prison for the Palestinian people in that it strengthened the siege, killed the sick, and prevented students from traveling for studies," Zuhri said.

Hamas calls for "a new arrangement that serves the higher interests of our people, for the crossing to be a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing without interference from any foreign power, whether European or American," he added.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad called on Hamas not to interfere in opening crossings with the Gaza Strip, while the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) demanded Hamas not to hamper the Arab ministers' decision regarding the Rafah border crossing.

It urged Hamas not to delay the Arab decision on handing over responsibility of Gaza Strip crossings to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Arab Foreign Ministers Council has supported Abbas' initiative to run Gaza Strip crossings.

"Delaying Arab decision on Gaza Strip crossings will harm the interests of the Palestinians and will enable Israel to carry out its schemes against the movement of Palestinian citizens," the organization said in a statement.

Complying with the Arab decision would prove by action not words Hamas' seriousness in holding an unconditional national dialogue, the statement said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said his country will seek to control its border with the Gaza Strip gradually and restore the situation there to an acceptable condition.

Abul Gheit reiterated the stance in contacts with foreign officials on this matter, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement.

Egypt is holding contacts with all sides concerned to activate a 2005 agreement that regulates the administration of crossings, including Rafah checkpoint, Zaki said.

Abul-Gheit has made contacts via either telephone or verbal messages with a number of European foreign ministers, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, European Union (EU) External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana regarding the handling of the crossing point.

The U.S.-brokered deal, which was reached in November 2005, allows the Rafah terminal to run with Palestinian Presidential Guard controlling the Palestinian side of the crossing while EU monitors acting as a third party.

Abul Gheit said Israel must cooperate to run the crossings, including the deployment of Palestinian National Authority security members in these borders and resuming the work of EU monitors.

Hamas movement has unequivocally accused Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of striving hard to abort and discourage Arab and international support of and sympathy with the besieged Palestinian people in Gaza Strip.

In a press statement he issued and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, the spokesman of Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip Fawzi Barhoum affirmed that the Arab and international support for the Gaza Strip disturbed detractors of the Palestinian people.

"It is evident that the popular protests in many Arab, Muslim, and European countries in support of the Gaza Strip had shocked the Israeli occupation and the US administration that started using local Palestinian tools to abort such strong Arab and international political momentum to rescind the siege", said Barhoum.

Fayyad's government was installed by PA chief Mahmoud Abbas without following constitutional procedures and without seeking the approval of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC).

"Fayyad's government has mortgaged itself to the US-Zionist project in the region and we (in Hamas) consider such mortgaging as the most dangerous threat to the Palestinian national project and aspiration", Barhoum underlined, affirming that Fayyad's statements were serving the Israeli and American interests in the area.

He also underlined that "Hamas Movement will not allow anyone to tamper with the Palestinian national security, crossing points, and the future of the Palestinian issue", vowing that Hamas will not allow those adverse plans to be implemented on the Palestinian people who offered and still are offering all precious things for the sake of their country's freedom and independence.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Monday welcomed the decision adopted by the foreign ministers of the League of Arab Nations (LAN) at their meeting in Cairo late Sunday whereby “they unanimously asserted the necessity of committing to the implementation of the international agreements governing the Rafah (border) crossing” between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

In a statement released by the Secretariat General of the Executive Committee of the PLO Monday the PLO hailed the Arab foreign ministers for “their welcoming the assumption by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) of its responsibilities” on the Rafah crossing as “meeting the Palestinian national interests and the Egyptian national security, in order to stop the Israeli plans that aim at separating the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian body and upholding Egypt fully responsible for the economy and security of Gaza Strip.”

The statement also highly appreciated the “responsible and Pan-Arab” stance taken by “sisterly Egypt” vis-à-vis the Palestinian people in the strip as well as Egypt’s support of the LAN’s decision Sunday to solve the “crossings problem through the Palestinian legitimacy as represented by President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).”

The PLO called on the “Hamas movement not to obstruct the implementation of the unanimous Arab decision regarding the assumption by the PNA of its responsibilities over the Rafah crossing because the obstruction thereof would gravely damage the interests of our people and the security of Egypt and would lead to enabling Israel to implement its plans against Palestinian citizens’ right of traffic and movement as well as against the security of the sisterly Egypt.”

“The positive response of Hamas movement to the Arab decision is the serious indicator of its intentions towards the national dialogue, and not the repetition by its leaders of their verbal claims of their desire to have an unconditional dialogue,” the statement concluded.

Arab foreign ministers have in an emergency meeting on Lebanon and the Gaza Strip also urged Israel, in a statement issued after the meeting at the headquarters of the Cairo-based LAN, to lift the ongoing blockade on the Palestinian territory of Gaza Strip.

The Arab ministers praised Egypt's efforts to help the Palestinians relieve their sufferings, and reiterated their support for Cairo's efforts to help all Palestinians for an early return to their homes in Gaza.

Head of the PLO Negotiations department, Saeb Erekat, on Sunday condemned as “unacceptable” Israeli attempts to find pretexts to disclaim legal responsibility for Gaza, or to embarrass Egypt by demanding it to ensure security there.

Speaking to reporters at the Palestinian presidential headquarters in the West bank city of Ramallah, Erekat said that the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem were a congruous geographical unit where the Israeli occupation should end completely.

He rejected any bid by Israel or anybody else to circumvent such strategic issues as a “very serious matter,” vowing that the Palestinians would never condone the West Bank being isolated from Gaza.

Meanwhile, Egypt called in police reinforcements and sealed gaps at the breached border with the Gaza Strip.

A senior Egyptian security official said Egypt had given orders to security men to start taking more restrictive measures and was hoping to minimize friction with Palestinians by implementing an incremental closure of the border.

The official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said there was still no official word on when the border would be completely sealed. Egyptian forces brought cement and sandbags to seal gaps in the border just over a week after Hamas militants blasted it open to let tens of thousands of Gazans cross to Egypt in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade, witnesses said.

Egypt also started blocking Palestinian vehicles from crossing into Egypt although it was allowing supply-laden Egyptian trucks to enter Gaza to drop off goods, witnesses said.

One security source said around 50,000 Palestinians had crossed into Egypt on Thursday, and another 20,000 were staying with relatives in Rafah and nearby towns.

The Israeli government urged its citizens not to travel in the Sinai Peninsula as terrorist attack warnings intensified after the Gaza Strip-Egypt border fence was partly destroyed.

Israeli National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau said in a statement that "gunmen in Sinai are working to abduct Israelis in Sinai and convey them to the Gaza Strip."

Therefore, the council recommends "Israelis avoid visit Sinai and that any Israelis currently there leave forthwith."

Tourist hotels in the Sinai Peninsula had been targeted by terror attacks. On Oct. 7, 2004, three bombs exploded in the Hilton Hotel in Taba, a border town between Israel and Egypt, and campsites used by Israelis, killing 34 people and injuring 171.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in a statement that "it is the responsibility for Egypt to ensure that the border operates properly." However, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry strongly rejected the idea, condemning Israel for thinking of giving up all responsibility for Gaza, including supplying electricity.

Head of the Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Meshaal arrived in Cairo on a visit to Egypt.

Meshaal held talks with Egyptian officials on the latest Palestinian developments, especially talks with Fatah and the Rafah crossing.

Meshaal was accompanied by a delegation grouping his deputy Moussa Abu-Marzouq and Hamas political Bureau member Emad al-Alami.

The Shoura Council held here today an ordinary session presided over by the council's chairman Sheikh Dr. Salih bin Abdullah bin Homaid.

At the beginning of the session, the council condemned the siege imposed by the Israeli aggression against Gaza Strip in occupied Palestine and the resulting great deterioration of humanitarian, economic and security situations and the breakdown of public facilities in the strip.

In a statement read by the chairman, the council appealed to governments and international organizations led by the United Nations and the Security Council to condemn this oppressive siege.

The council called on all to swiftly move to lift it off the people of Gaza Strip and force Israel to stop its repeated violations.

The council demanded that parliaments all over the world, regional and continental parliamentary federations and the International Parliamentary Federation support the Palestinian people in their ordeal, enable them to attain their rights and establish peace and security in this part of the world which has been suffering from injustice and oppression for a long time.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy received a written message from Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed of Oman on means to boost bilateral ties in various domains as well as issues of common interest.

The message was conveyed by the Omani ambassador to Paris.

A delegation of Hamas headed by Khaled Meshaal met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

“The meeting focused on Saudi efforts to patch up differences between Fatah and Hamas,” Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy-head of Hamas political bureau, said.

The EU is considering sending its monitors back to Gaza's border with Egypt and possibly other crossing points, provided Hamas offers assurances they will not be at risk, officials involved in the talks said.

"The European Union is looking into a comprehensive solution to the question of the (Gaza) crossings, including the possible redeployment at Rafah," said a European official in Jerusalem, referring to Gaza's only crossing with Egypt.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that crossings between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will remain closed, noting that only humanitarian aides will be allowed to enter the strip.

For his part, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected demands on Wednesday by Hamas rivals for control of the breached Gaza-Egypt border and told the Islamist group to "end its coup in Gaza."

"Hamas has to end its coup in Gaza, accept all international obligations, and accept holding early elections. After that, our hearts are open for any dialogue," Abbas told a news conference in which he referred to Hamas as an "illegitimate" party.

"We do not accept any new (border) agreements," he said. The Palestinian Authority was willing to take control of crossings only according to an international deal in place before Hamas took control of the coastal strip, he said.

Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal arrived in Cairo on Wednesday night to hold talks with Egyptian officials the next day, a Hamas official said.

Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Islamist group, said: "Abbas's comments that Hamas was not a legitimate party reflect his intentions to foil the Cairo meetings."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday signaled U.S. support for the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas taking charge of the Gaza Strip's breached border with Egypt.

Rice said a Palestinian Authority presence might help bring "some order" to the Rafah border crossing between the two since hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded across after Hamas militants blew up part of the border last week.

"There would be many details that would have to be worked out and I can't comment on any specific detail because this is obviously a very complex -- would be a very complex operation in itself," Rice told reporters when asked whether Washington supported Abbas' forces taking charge of the border.

"But we have said that in concept it should be supported and that the parties should look to see if that might be one way to handle the situation," she said at a news conference after meeting Australia's foreign minister.

The top U.S. diplomat helped broker a Rafah crossing deal between the Israelis and Palestinians in November 2005, but that deal crumbled almost as soon as it was signed.