Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Saturday said Egypt would invite a number of Hamas leaders and Palestinian Authority leaders to Cairo for separate talks to discuss the Gaza border situation, the MENA news agency reported.
Abul Gheit made the remarks after a ministerial meeting held by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the situation at the Egyptian-Palestinian borders and the latest developments in the Gaza Strip.
The talks to be held separately in Cairo with Fatah and Hamas leaders would tackle the operation of Rafah crossing in compliance with the rules that were governing the crossing before June 15, 2007 when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force, Abul Gheit said.
Egypt was seeking to restore arrangements between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to the status before Hamas' control of the Gaza Strip and control borders to regulate the movement of Palestinians from and to Egypt, he added.
Abul Gheit is scheduled to hold talks on Sunday with interim Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories especially in the Gaza Strip as well as efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation, according to MENA.
Abul Gheit also expressed Egypt's intention to hold contacts with non-Palestinian sides such as the European Union and Israel to implement an agreement on the operation of Rafah crossing.
As the hope to lift Gaza siege faded, Hamas militants on Wednesday blew up holes in the fence wall separating the southern Gaza Strip from Egypt, allowing tens of thousands of Gazans to enter Egypt to purchase necessities of life.
Israel ordered the shut-down of all Gaza crossings in the wake of Hamas' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip and further tightened the siege on Jan. 17 in retaliation to makeshift rocket attacks carried out by Palestinian militants from Gaza.
Source: Xinhua
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