Gaza-Egypt border to open for three days

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Gaza-Egypt border to open for three days-Hamas

Thu May 8, 2008 4:06pm EDT

GAZA, May 8 (Reuters) - The main border crossing between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Egypt will be opened for three days starting on Saturday under a deal between the Islamist group and Cairo, a Hamas official said on Thursday.

The crossing at Rafah has been largely closed since early February when Egypt resealed the border after Hamas gunmen blasted it open in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade of the coastal enclave.

With U.S. backing, Egypt has been trying to broker an unofficial truce between Israel and Hamas to stop violence that threatens to derail peace talks. That proposed deal calls for reopening Rafah under the control of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched U.S.-sponsored peace talks in November with the aim of reaching a deal on Palestinian statehood before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

Hamas official Ayman Taha said sick Gazans would be allowed to cross into Egypt on Saturday. Palestinians holding Egyptian and other foreign passports will be allowed to leave the coastal territory on Sunday and Monday, Taha added.

Egyptian security sources said Egypt had agreed in principle to open the border for three days to allow the wounded to cross into Egypt for treatment and to allow Egyptians in Gaza to return.

A European diplomatic source said European Union monitors would not be at the crossing.

EU monitors had been stationed at Rafah until Hamas Islamists took control of Gaza after routing Fatah forces loyal to Abbas. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Adam Entous; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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