EU foreign ministers planned to give their formal approval yesterday to launch a mission to monitor the border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the 25 EU ministers would also assess the latest political upheaval in the Israeli government, after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to leave his Liked Party, form a new political movement and push for quick elections.
The EU hopes the move will not disrupt attempts at peace with the Palestinians. The bloc hopes to send a first contingent of 12 officers and experts later this week to a Palestinian Authority-controlled outpost to prepare for the official start of their mission on Friday, when the Rafah border crossing opens.
In total, between 50 and 70 officers and experts will be sent as part of the mission, which will be a first for Europe in the region, boosting its presence beyond its role as top donor to the Palestinians.
Israelis and Palestinians agreed to the opening of the crossing during talks last week, brokered by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Solana.
The EU mission is to be headed by an Italian police general whose job will be to monitor the crossing to allay Israeli fears that the checkpoint could be used to smuggle militants or weapons into Gaza. The monitors will act as mediators between the Israelis, who will keep tabs on the border via closed-circuit television, and the Palestinians running the crossing. The mission will also train the Palestinians to run a professional customs checkpoint.
The Israelis can object to letting someone cross, but the Palestinians will have ultimate authority over who passes. The Europeans, through a joint situation room, will referee any disputes.
The foreign ministers were also to consider sending a formal EU observer mission to monitor Palestinian parliamentary elections slated for Jan. 25. They will also discuss further reconstruction aid the EU could offer to rebuild Gaza, including the airport there, which was destroyed during five years of fighting with the Israelis.
Meanwhile, EU defense ministers intended to approve a plan yesterday to open up their US$35 billion arms industry to increased cross-border competition.
By allowing companies to compete more in each others markets, the EU hopes to secure lower costs for Europe's tight defense budgets and encourage a restructuring of the continent's fractured industry so it becomes more competitive on world markets.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
A US federal judge on Tuesday ordered US President Donald Trump’s administration to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the news broadcasts of which are funded by the government to export US values to the world. US District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), ordered the administration to “take all necessary steps” to restore employees and contractors to their positions and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts. USAGM placed more than 1,000
RSS