Palestinians wait for travel permits to cross into Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Nov. 18, 2017. Egypt on Saturday temporarily opened Rafah crossing point on the borders with the Gaza Strip in both directions for three days, according to an official statement. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)
GAZA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Saturday temporarily opened Rafah crossing point on the borders with the Gaza Strip in both directions for three days, according to an official statement.
It's the first time since June 2007, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is in charge of running the Palestinian side of the crossing in coordination with Hamas security which is present in Gaza.
A statement by the PNA borders and crossings corporation, emailed to reporters, said that the mechanism of running the crossing is based on sharing the job.
The interior ministry of Hamas takes care of the lists of the registered passengers, who want to travel through the crossing, and the traffic police arranges the movement outside the crossing point, while the PNA presidential guards and PNA police and security will be present in the crossing to arrange the movement of the passengers to the Egyptian side, according to the statement.
Sharing the crossing was agreed upon on Friday between General Majid Faraj, PNA Chief of intelligence, who visited Gaza for several hours and met with Yehya Sinwar, Gaza Hamas chief.
The crossing of Rafah was fully closed by Egypt since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. However, Egypt temporarily opened it for a few days for humanitarian cases and to enable stranded Palestinians to cross in Gaza.
Running the Rafah crossing point by the PNA was part of a reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo between Hamas and Fatah party last October. The agreement enables the PNA to take over control of the Gaza Strip.
However, security in the Gaza Strip is still partially unresolved, where representatives of 12 factions, including Hamas and Fatah are scheduled to hold broader dialogue in Cairo on the 21st of November to agree on security issues, setting up a date for general elections and discussing the possibility of reforming Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and allow non-members to join the PLO executive committee.
