Palestinian police storm Rafah border crossing

Palestinian policemen angry over growing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip stormed the Gaza-Egypt border crossing today, scaring off European monitors who fled the area and forcing the border to close.

About 100 policemen entered the Rafah compound and took up positions alongside border patrol officers at the customs section of the crossing, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said.

The European observers – responsible for monitoring the crossing and ensuring the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement are upheld – fled the area, fearing the situation was spinning out of control.

The takeover is the latest in a rash of armed kidnappings and takeovers of government buildings that underscore the lawlessness in Gaza and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ inability to bring order to the coastal area following Israel’s withdrawal in September.

British woman Kate Burton, 24, and her parents were kidnapped on Wednesday by armed gunmen near the Rafah crossing. The family’s fate remains unknown. Palestinian security are searching for the family, while British diplomats keep close tabs on the situation.

The policemen who took over the crossing are angry over the killing of an officer yesterday in a family feud in Gaza. They said that because they had received no orders from their officers on how to deal with the situation, they were taking matters into their own hands.

The chief Palestinian security officer at the crossing asked the policemen to leave, but they refused.

The border was closed because according to the Israeli-Palestinian agreement the crossing cannot operate if the European contingent is not present, said Julio De La Guardia, spokesman for the European monitors.

“Our monitors are now in the Kerem Shalom military base. When the situation is clear, and these people leave, we will go back to our work,” De La Guardia said. Kerem Shalom is an Israeli military base on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza.

Yesterday, a Palestinian police officer and a civilian were killed in a shootout that erupted between two rival families. The violence began when a member of one of the families was detained by police. The man’s relatives went to a local police station to free him, and clashes broke out. A third civilian was wounded in the gun battle and sporadic gunfire erupted around the hospital and elsewhere in Gaza City after the killings.