Hamas welcomes return of pro-Abbas forces on border with Egypt

Hamas authorities welcome the return of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' own forces at the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt to help permanent opening of the enclave's Rafah crossing point, a Hamas official said Tuesday. However, the officers from Abbas' presidential guards should have no power or authoritarian role on Rafah crossing, Gaza's main gate to the outside world, said Ziad Al-Zaza, the deputy prime minister of Hamas. In 2007, Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces, ousted his Fatah movement and took over Gaza, annulling a 2005 international protocol that regulated the operations at the crossing. The U.S.-brokered agreement stipulates the presence of EU observers, Palestinian presidential guards' officers and an Israeli eye via closed-circuit TV cameras in the crossing to keep it running. "We accept the presence of forces from the side of President Mahmoud Abbas but only in their capacity as Palestinians... the control at the crossing will stay in the hands of the Gaza government," Al-Zaza told Xinhua. He also voiced rejection of the 2005 agreement that was signed between Israel, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Egypt and the EU. "The crossing is a pure Palestinian-Egyptian gate and we can't accept any Israeli or international presence there," he said. It's the first time that Hamas, which is besieged by Israel and was boycotted by the former Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak, speaks about possible return of pro-Abbas forces. Hamas received a blow with the ouster of Egyptian Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last month by the Egyptian military. Morsi comes from the Muslim Brotherhood movement, the historic mother of Hamas. Since the overthrow of Morsi on July 3, Rafah crossing point has been closed most of the time and Hamas fears that the return of the Egyptian military to dominate the Egyptian arena would bring back Mubarak's policy against the Islamic movement that runs Gaza. During a visit to Cairo last month, Abbas said he is ready to talk with Egypt and Israel to reactivate the 2005 agreement on Gaza border crossing points.