Israel has no right to veto operating Rafah crossing: Erekat

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat asserted that Israel has no right to veto or control the operation of Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Erekat made the remarks to the Voice of Palestine radio in

responding to Israeli Defense Minister Shaoul Mofaz's threats on Wednesday to shut down the crossings with the Gaza Strip if the Palestinians don't improve cooperation at the Rafah terminal.

Erekat said that the Rafah border crossing has operated in an excellent way since Nov. 15, after a long-awaited agreement clinched between the Palestinians and Israel.

"We agreed that only the Palestinians will decide what will happen on the crossing," he stressed.

Erekat feared that Israel launches these statements aiming at shutting down other crossings such as the Karni industrial crossing in eastern Gaza Strip and Ereaz crossing on borders between northern Gaza Strip and Israel.

He, meanwhile, revealed that during his visit to Washington on Tuesday he met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and urged her to increase pressure on Israel not to "sabotage" upcoming Palestinian legislative elections set for Jan. 25.

He said that he called on the US to send thousands of election monitors to ensure that Israeli threats against the legislative elections will reach an end even if the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) participated in the elections.

Source: Xinhua