Brussels – Ma’an – A senior European Union official said that there are talks in an initial stage regarding the deployment of a mission affiliated with the bloc at the Rafah border crossing in the Gaza Strip, indicating that such a step will not happen before the end of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has been ongoing for 7 months.
The official added: “Even if we have people on the ground now talking to different parties and seeing how the matter can be completed, we are at a very preliminary stage of the matter.”
European Union foreign ministers are scheduled to hold their monthly meeting in Brussels, on Monday, to discuss how to improve the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Diplomats said that the United States proposed to the bloc to revive the European Union border assistance mission in Rafah, which had stopped working since 2007, when the Hamas movement took complete control of the Gaza Strip.
The previous agreement known as the ‘Agreement on Movement and Access,’ known as AMA, which was signed on Nov
ember 15, 2005, at a time when the Palestinian Authority was still in control of the Gaza Strip, stipulated a mechanism for operating the Rafah crossing between the Egyptian and Palestinian sides, provided that the European Union , represented by a border mission, is a third party that supervises the application and compliance with the rules and mechanisms in force in the agreement.
The agreement, known as the ‘Agreement to Facilitate the Passage of Goods and Individuals,’ came after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza on September 1, 2005, or what is known as the ‘Israeli Unilateral Disengagement Plan,’ under which Israel evacuated the Israeli army’s settlements and camps in the Gaza Strip.
The Rafah crossing is the main entry point for aid from Egypt, and has been closed since Israeli forces took control of it from the Palestinian side about three weeks ago, while the city of Rafah is now the scene of an Israeli military attack, which the judges of the International Court of Justice urged, on Friday, ‘to sto
p it immediately.’ “.
In this context, the official said that European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell may be authorized by the 27 member states of the bloc, on Monday, to present ‘some kind of conclusions’ that would allow the mission to be deployed, adding that the deployment of the mission may not happen ‘in the current circumstances.’ “Not in wartime conditions, we are talking about the future.”
In turn, diplomats from the European Union indicated that the discussion will be put on the table, but that there is no concrete matter to discuss. One diplomat said the proposal was “far-fetched.”
Diplomats said that this mission may only move forward if Egypt and Israel agree to it, while two American officials said that Washington is reviewing options to secure the reopening of the Rafah crossing, but no final plans have been made yet.
The mission would require unanimous approval from EU member states, the mission was civilian, and adjustments would have to be made in terms of personnel and equipme
nt, given the potential risks of the operation.
This comes at a time when US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi announced, on Friday, an agreement to bring aid into the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Kerem Shalom crossing temporarily, until a legal mechanism is reached to restart the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side, which was controlled by Israel. At the beginning of this May, in a move that raised tension between Tel Aviv and Cairo.
Source: Maan News Agency