Ramallah, 22-06-07: PLC Member and General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, today drew attention to Israel’s closure of the Rafah Crossing since June 11 which has left an estimated 6,000 Palestinians seeking to return to Gaza stranded on the Egyptian side of the border during this time.
Dr. Barghouthi called on the international community to respond to the plight of the Palestinians at Rafah by putting immediate pressure on the Israeli Government to open the crossing.
He added that situation at Rafah was a humanitarian crisis, with sick and injured people stranded at the border out of the reach of emergency medical services for more than eleven days, and said that the international community needed to insist that Israel respond to this crisis by immediately opening the crossing and allowing Palestinians to enter the Gaza strip.
According to the Access of Movement Agreement (AMA) drawn up between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in November 2005, Egypt and the PA should man the Rafah Crossing, with the European Union assisting in a third party role. The AMA states that "The Government of Israel will not close a passage due to a security incident unconnected with the passage itself".
From 28 June 2006 to 29 May 2007, the Rafah Crossing was only open 44% of scheduled working days and has only functioned 17% of scheduled working hours over this period.
Photo: Palestinian women sit next to their packed belongings as they wait to cross the border into Egypt at the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006. The crossing has been closed for a week and opened Wednesday as hundreds of Muslim pilgrims began making their way to Hajj in Mecca. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)