EU extends Gaza-Egypt border mission for 12 months

BRUSSELS, May 21 (Reuters) The European Union agreed today to extend its mission monitoring the sensitive Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt for 12 more months with the option of a further six months, officials said.

Ninety EU monitors have been overseeing the Rafah crossing with Egypt under an agreement that took effect in November 2005 to help open up Gaza after Israel ended 38 years of occupation. Israel often shuts down the terminal, citing security threats.

Israel had wanted EU monitors to take on greater powers for carrying out arrests and confiscating money and items that could be used in weapons, but EU diplomats said the mandate of the extended mission will be unaltered.

''The Palestinians are responsible for the border. What we have to do is to ensure that the way the Palestinian police act is in accordance with the Israeli-Palestinian agreement,'' An EU official said.

The EU has stationed military monitors at the crossing and provided X-ray machines, metal detectors, communications gear and other equipment.

Israel says the Gaza-Egypt border is a major transit point for militants and weapons. Yet the crossing is seen as vital for Gazans, and a recent World Bank report highlighted its importance to the Palestinian economy.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana visits Israel and the Palestinian territories this week as part of a Middle East tour aimed at kickstarting peace efforts, starting his trip just as Israel stepped up air attacks in the Gaza strip today.

''I am going to the region...to make an appeal, a call, for people to stop the violence and to recuperate the situation,'' Solana told reporters before heading to Israel.

He was due to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni later today in Sderot, the border town most affected by rockets fired by militants in Gaza.

He will then travel to Beirut and Egypt before heading to Gaza for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday.

He will then meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

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