Hamas urges Egypt to ease movement of Gazans through Rafah

March 11, 2011

Gaza's Hamas on Thursday urged Egypt to ease the movement of Palestinians to Egypt through the Rafah crossing point.

In a letter to Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Prime Minister Ismail Haneya of the deposed Hamas government said that Egyptian authorities at Rafah prevent some Gazans from leaving the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this week, Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian territories Yasser Othman said that Egyptian officials are considering a package of steps to facilitate the situation in the Gaza Strip.

However, Othman added that the new changes will become applicable as soon as the security situation in northern Sinai stabilizes and Egypt agrees on new arrangements with the Islamic Hamas movement, which controls Gaza since 2007.

When Hamas routed the security forces of President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement, Rafah crossing has been closed most of the time, only opened for two to four days a month for humanitarian cases.

In June 2010, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak decided to keep the crossing open, allowing more categories of travelers to cross in two directions.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/7315850.html.