Palestinians close rafah border

Palestinian officials closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the terminal's director Ayyoub Abu Sha''ar said. Palestinian (Ma'an) news agency quoted Abu Sha''ar as saying that the crossing was closed because the Egyptian authority's mechanism at the terminal was unclear, and because Egypt closed the crossing on Saturday without coordinating with Palestinian officials. Egypt opened the terminal several hours later than scheduled Saturday without informing Palestinian officials. Several buses of Palestinians were left waiting at the Egyptian gate, and dozens of Palestinians tried to storm the border. Egyptian security sources said the delay was due to maintenance works underway at the crossing. Egyptian authorities opened the crossing on Saturday afternoon, but only for passengers on foot. The director of border crossings in Gaza, Salameh Barakeh, said the decision was difficult to implement due to the number of patients, elderly people and children who were traveling among others across the sole Egyptian exit from Gaza. Abu Sha''ar said consultations were ongoing between Gaza''s foreign ministry and the Egyptian government to resolve technical and administrative problems at the terminal. He said the crossing would reopen as soon as the issues were fixed. Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing on May 28 after it had been largely shut since June 2006 when Israel imposed a blockade after militants snatched an Israeli soldier. Egypt''s decision to permanently reopen Rafah came more than three months after former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned.