BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers pressed Egypt on Sunday to do more to prevent weapons from being smuggled to Hamas in the Gaza Strip – a problem undermining efforts to cement a durable truce in the Mideast.
The EU s 27 foreign ministers sought support from their Jordanian and Turkish counterparts in talks meant to help create a lasting cease-fire following Israel s 22-day offensive. The Israeli assault ended Jan. 17 with an estimated 1,300 Palestinians dead.
The critical question facing the EU is whether Hamas will go along with any peace initiative – and what incentives might be offered to Egypt to deter arms smuggling along its porous Gaza border.
We know the cease-fire is very fragile, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said. Action is required to prevent the illegal trafficking of arms into Gaza. It s required to address the terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza, including the opening of (border) crossings.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the EU could send more monitors to help police Egypt s several official border crossings with Gaza.
The key thing is to open up access to Gaza, so that the people of Gaza have the right not only to survive, but to live, Bildt said.
The ministers also pushed the Palestinian Authority, who was represented at the talks by Riad Malki, to pursue reconciliation with their Hamas rivals and to forge a unity government that could more effectively pursue peace talks with Israel. The Palestinian Authority controls only the West Bank.
Hamas leaders insist on having a lead role in operating the border crossings because their group won the Palestinian elections in 2006. But the EU and the United States have branded Hamas a terrorist organization, and recognizing the group s right to govern Gaza alone would be unacceptable to them.
The EU is eager to offer monitors, ships and radar equipment to help secure Gaza s border with Egypt, which is compromised by smugglers tunnels.
Last week Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met EU foreign ministers and agreed that Israel should allow more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. But Egypt has largely shut its side of the Gaza border since 2007 in opposition to Hamas rise to power.
International aid groups and the United Nations say the priority is to make sure more aid can get into Gaza to provide relief and reconstruction aid for the 1.4 million people living there.
Sunday s talks in Brussels coincided with negotiations in Cairo between Hamas leaders and the Egyptian government.
The EU already has observers on standby in the region and is ready to send monitors back to Rafah, Egypt s most strategic crossing point into Gaza, if the current cease-fire is maintained. An EU monitoring mission at Rafah operated sporadically from 2005 to 2007.
