GAZA, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will meet on Wednesday next week to discuss reopening the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, a senior Palestinian official announced on Tuesday.

   The Rafah Crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border was closed in the absence of a deal to monitor the terminal when Israel completed withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last week after 38 years of military occupation. 

   General Jibril Rajoub, Abbas' national security advisor, told a news conference after a tour to Rafah Crossing that the Palestinians rejected Israeli presence at the crossing in the future but would accept European observers. 

   He added that Egypt and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) agreed to open the crossing on Friday and Saturday this week to enable Palestinians to go abroad, most of them are students, patients and laborers.

   Egypt deployed 750 troops on its side of the Gaza frontier under a deal with Israel to prevent arms smuggling to Gaza after Israeli army quit the border area.

   Egyptian and Palestinian forces have sealed the border to stop Palestinians from breaking through the barrier wall in chaotic manner since the Israeli pullout. Enditem