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Ramallah: Hamas cannot expect to play a role in running Gaza's borders, and if it does not drop this demand, it will be held responsible for Gaza's continued closure, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, head of the moderate West Bank government, said on Monday.
Hamas is pressuring Egypt to be part of future arrangements on the Gaza-Egypt border. Fayyad proposes instead that troops loyal to the West Bank government run the border post.
Fayyad told reporters that his proposal enjoys broad international support. "They [Hamas] should not interfere. They should just simply get out of the way and allow this to happen," he said.
Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers expressed deep concern on Monday about the chaos on the Gaza Strip border with Egypt and unveiled a new plan for getting aid to the Palestinians.
"The council is deeply concerned about recent events in Gaza and the grave disturbances at the border between Gaza and Egypt," the ministers said in a statement released during their meeting in Brussels.
Several hundred thousand Palestinians have swarmed into Egypt since fighters blew up the Rafah border barricades six days ago, after a punishing Israeli lockdown.
Shops in Rafah were running out of stocks after Egypt on Sunday began preventing trucks coming from Cairo to border towns.
The ministers said the EU "reiterates its grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and calls for the continuous provision of essential goods and services, including fuel and power supplies."
In Riyadh, Hamas leader Khalid Mesha'al met Saudi officials as part of a Saudi bid to mediate the return of Gaza to Palestinian Authority control, Saudi and Palestinian officials said.
Sloganeering: Player warned
Egyptian football player Mohammad Abu Traika was issued a warning yesterday by the Confederation of African Federation (CAF) for showing his undershirt bearing the slogan "Sympathise With Gaza", Al Jazeera website reported on Monday. He had earlier been given a yellow card during a match on Saturday. T
he player, who was celebrating his second goal against Sudan as part of the African Cup of Nations, lifted his T- shirt to show the undershirt bearing a slogan to show his solidarity with the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
The match referee said that the yellow card was given to Abu Traika for violating rules of the International Football Federation (FIFA), which bans the use of political slogans during its matches.
Abu Traika, FIFA's best African football player, had earlier worn a T- shirt bearing the slogan "We Sacrifice Ourselves for You Prophet Mohammad" (PBUH) during the previous African football cup in the wake of the offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) which were published in Western newspapers.
- Gulf News Report
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