Foreign ministers of the European Union have agreed in principle to reactivate the bloc’s Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) in the city of Rafah.
The mission was established in 2005 to provide a third-party presence at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, with a mandate to monitor, verify and evaluate the performance of the Palestinian Authority’s border police and customs services.
At the time, it was billed as an important measure to build confidence between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. But the mission suspended its operations in 2007, shortly after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, told reporters on Monday the reactivation of EUBAM “could play a useful role in supporting the entry of people into Gaza, in and out”.
But, he said, this “has to be done in accordance with the Palestinian Authority, the Egyptians, and obviously Israel, Israel’s authorities”. The EU will no act as “outsourcers of the security in the border”, he said, adding that the bloc would only prepare technical plans for now.
Reuters, citing diplomats, reported that the mission was unlikely to be in place before the hostilities in Rafah stopped.
