Brussels, 16/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - After the agreement reached on Tuesday 15 November between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the aid of the United States in particular, the EU is speeding up the rate of its work with a view to launching a twelve month mission at the end of the month to help monitor controls at the Rafah terminal, a crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. According to the draft mandate that has still to be approved by the EU's Political and Security Committee (COPS), and then by the EU Council of Ministers, the mission will be composed of around forty members of the police force and customs experts (with the possibility of increasing this number to 70), responsible for ensuring compliance with the agreement between Palestinians and Israelis on the reopening of the Rafah terminal from 25 November, and at the same time providing technical advice for Palestinian controllers. The EU High Representative for foreign and security policy, Javier Solana, has suggested that Member States appoint Italian General Pietro Pistolese to the post of EU head of mission. The agreement was announced on Tuesday by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a press conference in Jerusalem in the presence of Quartet envoy Jim Wolfensohn (Middle East emissary for the Quartet formed of the United States, Russia, the UN and the EU) and Javier Solana.
The European Union hopes, in principle, to help monitor border crossings in Gaza in compliance with the agreement of both parties which is “extremely good news”, states a joint press release from the president-in-office of the Council of Ministers, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw and Javier Solana. “With this border control monitoring mission, the EU will significantly reinforce its role in the field of security in the region”, EU representatives add. The agreement on the Rafah border crossing is the result of “intensive work” on the part of the EU, Mr Wolfensohn (the Quartet's Middle East emissary), the United States and “of course” the parties themselves, Straw and Solana stress. They say by way of conclusion that the agreement is “fundamental to improving the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza as well as essential for promoting peaceful economic development”.