Israel wants to move border crossing

Israel will insist on moving the Gaza-Egypt border crossing to a new location after Israel’s pullout from Gaza so Israeli inspectors can continue to check goods and people, Israel’s Security Cabinet was told today, and the emerging position appears to rule out the deployment of foreign inspectors at Gaza crossings.

The Palestinians have said they would not agree to move the crossing to a three-way meeting point between Israel, Egypt and Gaza, and it was not clear how the dispute will be resolved, with just a week to go to the start of the Gaza pullout. International mediators have proposed leaving the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt in place, and allowing foreign inspectors to take the place of Israeli security officials.