Dr. Mahmoud aL-Zahar, a senior political leader of the ruling Hamas movement in Gaza headed Thursday evening for the Egyptian town of aL-Arish for talks over the Rafah crossing terminal.
aL-Zahar’s visit to Egypt comes as a part of the movement’s coordination with the Egyptian authorities, in a bid to tackle all the complications of the Israeli siege on the coastal territory.
Hamas’s senior member, Ismail Radwan, told media outlets in Gaza that Hamas has recently formed three committees; the political, the security and the health, in order to deal with the emerging complications of the Israeli closure of Gaza.
He confirmed that contacts will continue at the said three levels between Hamas and the Gaza-based government from one part and Egypt from the other.
Last month, Cairo sealed off the Gaza-Egypt border line in southern Gaza, after hundreds of thousands of Gazans flooded into nearby Egypt to bring in essential supplies.
Prior to sealing off borders, a Hamas delegation, headed by aL-Zahar, discussed with the Egyptians responsibility over the Rafah crossing terminal, which was closed after Hamas took over the coastal Strip in June of last year.
Hamas wants that the terminal be reopened without return of the European observers, who used to monitor movement over there, prior to the Hamas’s takeover last June, as Cairo insisted that the 2005’s U.S-brokered operation agreement, be reinstalled.
In June2007, Israel placed the Gaza Strip under a strict closure of border crossings, right after the Islamist Hamas routed Fatah-loyal security services amidst a power struggle with the secular Fatah party.
