TEL AVIV // Egypt said yesterday it plans to open its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip within days, drawing concern from Israel that the move may help Hamas smuggle more arms into the territory.
The decision was the latest reflecting the tendencies of Egypt's new leadership to distance itself from Israel and venture closer to Israel's enemies such as Hamas, Gaza's rulers, and the group's main backer, Iran, after January's popular revolution that toppled the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
It also signalled that Egypt will no longer support Israel's blockade of Gaza and was a possible show of support for Hamas after the Islamist group this week agreed to reconcile with its bitter rival, the secular Fatah movement that holds sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Egypt had served as the pact's mediator.
Nabil al Araby, Egypt's new foreign minister, late on Thursday told the Al Jazeera television channel that the closure was about to end and called the decision to shut the crossing "a disgusting matter".
He added that the crossing would be open on a continuous basis "within days".
Israel instituted a hermetic siege over Gaza's air space, waters and all of its border crossings except for Rafah, which Egypt manages, when the territory was taken over in 2007 by Hamas.
Mr Mubarak's government co-operated with the blockade by ordering Rafah to remain mostly shut since June 2006, when an Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Gaza militants and held by Hamas since then.
The blockade was aimed at weakening Hamas, which Israel views as a terrorist organisation, and hindering the group and other militant factions in Gaza from importing weapons that could be used against Israel.
The blockade had faced much opposition among Egyptians and its lifting was one of the targets of the protest that had prompted the February ousting of Mr Mubarak who, like Israel, had also viewed Hamas with hostility.
A recent poll showed that more than half of the population favour an annulment of the historic 1979 peace pact between Israel and Egypt.
Egypt in June 2010 loosened the movement restrictions at the border crossing as a protest against Israel's commando attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla a month earlier. Nevertheless, passage through Rafah is still limited to only some 300 people a day. Those include holders of foreign citizenships or residence, holders of visas such as students studying abroad, and those seeking medical attention or study in Egypt, according to the Israeli human rights group Gisha.
Except for the occasional humanitarian supplies, goods are forbidden from entering or leaving the enclave.
While Israeli officials declined to comment yesterday on Egypt's decision, an official who spoke on condition of anonymity was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Israel is "troubled" by recent developments in Egypt.
He added: "In the past, despite efforts by the Egyptian government, Hamas succeeded in building a formidable military machine.
"If those efforts were to cease, how much easier would it be for Hamas to build a terrorist military machine?"
Hamas has hailed the Egyptian decision. Taher Nunu, a spokesman of Hamas in Gaza, was quoted by news agencies as saying that the group "has received positive signals from Egypt about the mechanism that Egypt is going to adopt in the terminal". He added that Hamas had been informed by Egypt that "all future progress on Egypt's part is going to serve the interests of the people of Gaza".
Israeli and Egyptian media speculated yesterday that Egypt's decision was linked to the announcement of the Hamas-Fatah pact late on Wednesday.
The two factions, which have been bitterly divided since Hamas won elections in 2006 and a year later violently ousted Fatah forces from Gaza, are due to officially sign the agreement this week in Cairo.
The pact calls for the creation of a transitional government and for legislative and presidential elections within a year of its signing.
The accord has prompted sharp opposition from Israel, where officials are expressing concerns that Hamas may take over the West Bank and launch attacks against Israel from there.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, stepped up a diplomatic campaign yesterday to persuade the international community to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority and boycott any unified Hamas-Fatah government should it not recognise Israel, the liberal Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday.
Rafael Barak, the director-general of the foreign ministry, sent a cable to Israeli embassies in the European Union, directing them to request leaders of their respective countries to not automatically provide support to the new Palestinian government, according to the report.
