EU close to Gaza Strip police mission deal
LISBETH KIRK
07.11.2005 @ 09:59 CET
The Palestinian Authority and Israel are close to agreeing an EU police deal that would reopen passage for Palestinians between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
The EU police mission would be the bloc’s first direct security engagement in the Middle East peace process.
Israeli daily Haaretz quoted EU sources saying the EU is set to announce plans today (7 November) for a three-year mission starting on 1 January 2006 to help the Palestinians build up a credible police force.
The first EU police mission was opened in Sarajevo in 2003 (Photo: The Council of the European Union)
The idea is not to have European police officers patrolling the streets of Palestinian cities but for European staff to advise on how to manage and finance local forces, the paper reported.
"Obviously what we will not be doing is taking the place of the Palestinian customs and security officials. In the end the Palestinian Authority will be in charge of its borders," EU envoy Marc Otte said, according to Haaratz.
The EU already has seven advisors working with regular Palestinian Authority police forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The new plan would bring another 26 EU law enforcement advisors to Ramallah and Gaza in January, while the total force, including local Palestinian employees, would number 50 people.
EU envoy Marc Otte has travelled between Tel Aviv and the West Bank town of Ramallah in recent weeks to agree terms with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
"The two sides must agree on a mandate for the EU," before any customs inspectors are deployed at Rafah, EU spokeswoman Cristina Gallach told Haaratz.
According to media reports, the EU turned down Israel's demand that European monitors should arrest anyone suspected of smuggling arms from Egypt to Gaza while Palestinians objected to Israel's demand to film people crossing the border.
The Israeli security cabinet approved the placement of an EU contingent at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt last Tuesday (1 November).
Later today, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels will discuss the Middle East peace process under their foreign affairs agenda.
The first European Union Police Mission (EUPM) started on 1 January 2003 in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), with some 500 police officers from more than thirty countries making up the mission.
The European Union has also established an EU police mission in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
