Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    RAMALLAH, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Authority (PA) led by President Mahmoud Abbas doesn't insist on an international role in running Gaza crossings or oppose the proposal of reopening the crossings away from international presence, a negotiator said Saturday.

    The negotiator, Yasser Abed Rabbo, however said the Palestinian leadership prefers to reopen Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border according to a previous international agreement, which was reached between Israel and the PA in 2005 and allowed the Europeans to monitor the crossing.

    The EU monitors left the crossing last June when Hamas seized control of Gaza after it routed Abbas' security forces.

    Abed Rabbo made the remarks in response to claims by Hamas, which accused the PA of boosting the Israeli siege on Gaza by supporting the 2005 international deal.

    Egyptian-hosted talks on reopening Rafah crossing had failed because Abbas opposed any role for Hamas in running Rafah crossing and called for reopening the passage according to the 2005 deal, which put the Palestinian side of the terminal under control by his security forces and the EU monitors.

    But Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip since last June, didn't want the deployment of the EU monitors in the same way as it was before.

    Hamas said the U.S.-brokered deal on Rafah, which followed the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in summer 2005, left a hand for Israel on the crossing throughout the EU monitors.

    Since the EU monitors had been in Israel, the Israeli army could close the crossing by preventing the monitors from traveling to the border, according to Hamas. The deal said the crossing could not be run without the existence of the EU monitors.

    Also on Saturday, a Hamas negotiator said that Hamas would accept the return of EU monitors to Rafah crossing if they reside in Gaza or Egypt, but not in Israel.