EU: Status quo for Gaza ‘not an option’

Associated Press

BRUSSELS

The European Union offered Friday to take charge of Gaza’s border crossings and work to prevent illegal arms flows, insisting on a durable truce and saying a return to the status quo before the latest war “is not an option.”

As EU foreign ministers had an urgent meeting in Brussels about global conflicts, Hamas negotiators met with the Islamic militant group’s leadership in Qatar to discuss a proposal for a long-term truce with Israel. An official said the group was inclined to accept the Egyptian-mediated offer.

The Gaza blockade remains the main stumbling block. It has greatly limited the movement of Palestinians in and out of the territory of 1.8 million people, restricted the flow of goods into Gaza and blocked virtually all exports.

The EU is prepared “to play a strong role” in managing the crossings while assuring that Israel’s security is guaranteed, said the 28-nation bloc’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.

The EU offered to reactivate and extend its monitoring of the Rafah crossing with Egypt and other border posts, provided there will be a U.N. Security Council mandate for the mission and a sustainable cease-fire in place. In addition, the EU says Israel must lift its blockade to allow “a fundamental improvement in the living conditions for the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

The EU foreign ministers said the bloc is also prepared to prevent arms smuggling and launch a training program for Palestinian Authority police and customs officers to be deployed in Gaza.

“The situation in the Gaza Strip has been unsustainable for many years, and a return to the status quo prior to the latest conflict is not an option,” they said.

Israel and Hamas are observing a five-day temporary cease-fire in an attempt to allow indirect talks in Cairo to continue. The negotiations are meant to secure a substantive end to the monthlong Gaza war and draw up a road map for the coastal territory, which has been hard-hit in the fighting.

Hamas is demanding the lifting of the blockade Israel and Egypt imposed after the militant group seized power in Gaza in 2007.