As Egypt's border with Gaza is resealed, there are no easy answers to the continuing dilemma facing both sides, writes Doaa El-Bey In an interview with the conservative Spanish daily ABC President Hosni Mubarak said Egypt would not allow its border with Gaza to be breached again by militants seeking to escape Israel's blockade. "It is a mistake to besiege the Palestinians but we cannot accept that the border [with Gaza] be left open indefinitely. What happened will not be repeated," he told the newspaper in an interview published to coincide with the start of a two-day visit by Spanish King Juan Carlos to Egypt. Large sections of the border fence were blown up by Hamas militants over two weeks ago allowing thousands of impoverished Palestinians to flood into Egypt in search of essential goods that Israel has refused to allow into Gaza. The border was resealed by Egyptian and Hamas forces on Sunday. Mubarak's statements came after the closure of the border sparked protests from the Palestinians. The demonstrations turned violent late Monday when protesters began throwing stones and there were exchanges of gunfire and tear gas between masked Palestinians and Egyptian forces along the border. The clashes left one Palestinian dead and at least 44 Egyptians and Gazans wounded. Egypt, in an attempt to alleviate any problems along the border, has exerted every effort to help ease the humanitarian crisis Palestinians face due to the Israeli blockade. It held separate talks with delegates from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas last week but failed to reach any agreement with the two parties. Although Hamas officials declared after their talks with Egyptian officials that the two parties had agreed on some common ground there are no clear signs that the talks will lead to inter-Palestinian dialogue, let alone reconciliation. Egypt had hoped to convince both parties to end their differences and operate the Rafah crossing together. Egypt reiterated its stand towards Gaza this week when presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said that Palestinian suffering and Israeli practices in Gaza cannot continue. Cairo believes that resolving the current dilemma is largely the responsibility of the EU and Hamas. "The ball is now in the court of the EU: can it return its monitors to Gaza without conditions? The ball also stays in the court of Hamas, which must open channels of communication with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas," he said at the end of Sunday's meeting between President Hosni Mubarak and EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana. Gamal Abdel-Gawad, of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, says Egypt's latest attempts to resolve the situation are geared towards avoiding any future breach of the border. To secure this goal, he says, Cairo must act to reduce the pressures Palestinians face vis-à-vis an Israeli blockade that not only starves them of essential supplies but provides an excuse for Hamas and other groups to retaliate. Cairo is also trying to free itself from the repercussions of inter-Palestinian differences and Israeli indifference to the suffering of the Palestinians while trying to make the involved parties assume their responsibility in controlling the Rafah crossing. "There is a new situation on the ground that we need to deal with. Yes, there is an old agreement but there are new developments that must be taken into consideration," Abdel-Gawad told Al-Ahram Weekly. One way to ease the suffering of Palestinians, he suggests, is to allow staple goods through the Rafah crossing and people from Gaza into Egypt for health and humanitarian reasons. It is unclear whether the EU, which was monitoring the border before the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June last year, would be willing to cooperate with Hamas or insist on dealing with the PA in accordance with the 2005 border agreement. Solana, who met with Mubarak and the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, said after both meetings that the EU has been working on opening the crossing for a long time and that it is willing to continue. "Be sure the EU is willing to cooperate... we are willing to be part of the solution," he said. But by announcing that the EU would be ready to resume its role at the crossing whenever there is an agreement he essentially knocked the ball out of the EU's court. Abdel-Gawad believes the EU is torn between its commitment to boycott Hamas, the pressing humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the threats to Egyptian security. Unlike Egypt, however, it is not directly involved in the problem and therefore lacks the incentives to resolve the discrepancies between the old border agreement and the current situation on the ground. Meanwhile, the gaps between the PA and Hamas appear as wide as ever. The former insists on abiding by the 2005 US brokered agreement and has challenged Hamas to come up with a better arrangement for controlling the border with Egypt. Abbas reiterated in talks with Egyptian officials last week that he would not condone any role for Hamas in supervising the border. Hamas, in turn, said the 2005 agreement was history, and stated that it refused any Israeli role along the Gaza- Egypt border. Although Hamas described its talks with Egyptian officials as successful, and agreed to cooperate with Egypt in resealing the border and gradually bringing order to the Rafah crossing, no details of how this might be achieved have emerged. Under the 2005 agreement, the Rafah crossing was operated by Egypt and the PA with EU monitors deployed on the Palestinian side. Israel was allowed to conduct round-the-clock camera surveillance of the crossing. Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza European monitors withdrew. Abdel-Gawad believes dialogue between the PA and Hamas is unlikely to lead anywhere and to all intents and purposes the Palestinian territories will not only be occupied but divided for years to come. The separation, he says, is reinforced by ideological differences and opposing regional alliances, with the PA allied with moderate Arab states and Hamas with Iran. Egypt's priority, argues Abdel-Gawad, is to deal with the situation on the ground, which means accepting the existence of two separate Palestinian entities for the foreseeable future. "We must deal with whoever rules Gaza, though some restrictions will have to remain in place. Egypt cannot cut its ties with its neighbours, especially at a time when the Palestinians are in such a difficult situation."
