Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas – Abu Mazin, reaffirmed the Palestinian approval to have a third party monitoring the Rafah terminal which will be controlled by Palestinian and Egyptian forces.
“The Palestinian Authority (P.A) will not accept any Israeli presence on the terminalâ€Â, Abbas said, “We will rehabilitate the terminal and open it, we will control it along with the Egyptian and a third partyâ€Â.
The statements of Abbas came as he was touring the Gaza-Egypt border at Rafah on Thursday
Also, Abu Mazin said that the residents crossed the border to and from Egypt on Wednesday as a result of the unilateral Israeli pullout from the border area without any coordination with the P.A.
Abu Mazin added that the crossing will be opened after finalized all needed procedures and after reconstructions since it need reconstructions, and several modifications.
“We will conduct the needed procedures to enable the residents to cross without any difficultiesâ€Â, Abbas added.
Commenting on Sharon’s allegations that the P.A is not able to control the situation in Gaza, Abu Mazin said that the P.A is in total control of the area, adding that the violations which occurred after Israel withdrew occurred as a result of Israeli unilateral moves.
“It is a national Palestinian interest to maintain law and order in the Palestinian controlled areasâ€Â, Abbas said, “We will counter the violations and maintain calm in our areasâ€Â.
