Hamas: No Progress in Border Talks with Egypt

Ayman Taha, Hamas spokesman, said that the talks between Hamas movement delegation and Egyptian officials did not lead to any progress.
 
A Hamas delegation headed by the leader in the movement, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, met Egyptian security officials to discuss the future arrangements for controlling over the crossing between Egypt and Gaza .
 
The delegation submitted some demands to Egyptian officials. These demands included giving a number of Palestinian patients access to Egypt to receive medical treatment and to allow aid trucks to enter the Strip while the Hamas movement will be committed to keep Egyptian borders with Gaza safe.
 
Reaching a Deal
 
The Palestinians want to reach an agreement with Egypt over the organizing Gaza people”s movement through Rafah Crossing. This was the third meeting between the Hamas delegation and the Egyptian officials during the past two weeks.
 
Feeling the pressure of the inhumane Israeli blockade, hundreds of thousands of Gaza citizens have flocked into Egypt last month to buy their needs and commodities after Palestinian militants planted explosives and demolished parts of the border fence between Gaza and Egypt in the Palestinian side of Rafah.
 
In the same context, shops owners in Gaza Strip closed their shops on Saturday Feb, 23rd, for a few hours protesting at the ongoing blockade imposed on Gaza Strip.
 
Egypt and Israel have imposed tight restrictions on people”s movement in Gaza after Hamas movement seized power in the coastal Strip last June 2007.
 
Meanwhile, three Palestinians were killed in a missile attack that Israel launched on Saturday near Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza Strip.
 
Israel claimed that it was targeting Palestinian activists while local citizens said that the killed persons are civilians.
 
The Palestinian militants have regularly launched missile attacks from Gaza into south of Israel .