JERUSALEM: Israel is "worried" by Egypt’s plan to imminently reopen the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip, Israeli vice prime minister Silvan Shalom said on Sunday.
His comments came as Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was considering sending an envoy to Cairo for talks with Egypt’s interim leadership.
Israel has reacted with consternation to Egypt’s announcement earlier this week that it planned to fully reopen the Rafah crossing, effectively ending its cooperation with an Israeli siege imposed on the coastal strip.
"It’s a worrying development… The reopening of the Rafah crossing could allow the passage of arms and terrorists and we must prepare for important changes both in Egypt and at the regional level," Shalom told public radio.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil El-Araby announced on Friday that Cairo planned to open the crossing in the next "few days," ending what he called his country’s "shameful" cooperation in keeping the crossing closed.
The decision was reportedly made as Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas met to agree a reconciliation deal in Cairo.
Under a 2005 deal, following Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the crossing was to remain open with the supervision of European Union monitors.
But it has remained largely shut since June 2006 when Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after militants snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held.
At present it is open irregularly and passage is available mostly for Palestinians who can prove humanitarian need.
Israeli officials have made clear their concern about the reopening, couching it in terms of what they call a worrying shift in policy in Cairo after the February overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak.
Israel is "troubled by the development in Egypt, by the voices calling for the annulling of the peace treaty, by the rapprochement between Egypt and Iran, and by the warming of ties between Egypt and Hamas," a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli concerns have prompted Netanyahu to consider dispatching his special adviser Yitzhak Molho to Cairo to meet senior Egyptian officials including El-Araby, Haaretz daily reported on Sunday.
Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev refused on comment on the report.
