Gaza government says no to EU border oversight

General Director of Crossings in the dismissed Gaza government, Maher Abu Sabha has said that the European Union “begun to talk about resuming their peacekeeping role at the Rafah border crossing after halting it when the political division occurred.” The move by the EU, Abu Sabha said, came after the recent ceasefire agreement and the reopening of the Gaza crossings. The Gaza borders official also said in a statement Sunday evening that there was “no need” for the return of EU forces and accused Europe of “abandoning the sick people who died at the Rafah crossing and who needed their intervention.” The Rafah crossing, he said, was under “strictly Palestinian sovereignty.” Instead of overseeing the border crossing, Abu Sabha demanded that Europe work instead to lift the Gaza blockade and help with reconstruction efforts following the 2006 and 2012 Israeli bombardment campaigns. Special sources reported that the EU had requested to visit the Rafah crossing, but that the concerned authorities in the Gaza Strip had refused them permission. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton has also said in remarks to the press that the EU was studying the resumption of European peacekeeping forces’ mission at the Rafah border crossing which was terminated in 2005. The Palestinian Authority and Israel had signed an agreement known as the "crossings pact" which set the conditions, restrictions and standards governing the movement of traffic from and into occupied Palestinian territories through these crossings. Implementation of the agreement was meant to be overseen by the EU, but the European organisation pulled out soon after Hamas won the elections.