Gaza (dpa) - The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Egypt opened the Rafah terminal on the Gaza Strip border with Egypt Friday, allowing thousands of Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return home over a two-day period, officials said.
Only Gazans who were students, receiving medical treatment, or residing in Egypt were allowed to cross in the opposite direction, said Nazmi Muhana, the director of Gaza border crossings.
He told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the PA had brought equipment to the terminal from the closed down Gaza airport and that people were going through passport inspections in an orderly manner.
Economy Minister Mazen Sunokrot earlier told dpa that the PA had reached an agreement in principle with Egypt, the European Union (E.U.) and Israel on the Gaza-Egypt border issue.
Under the compromise, he said, Israel agreed that the PA and Egypt open Rafah for two days. The PA in turn agreed to close the terminal again after that for an interim period of two to three months and not six as Israel had initially demanded.
He said the PA also agreed that during the interim period travel between Gaza and Egypt would be through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, just east of the Gaza Strip, until the E.U. finalized a plan to post European monitors at the Rafah crossing an reopen it.
The Israeli army pulled out of the Gaza Strip 11 days ago, leading to chaos at the border, with tens of thousands of Palestinians and Egyptians crossing over through breaches in a metal wall at the border.
After more than a week did the PA and Egypt manage to seal the border and re-establish control there. dpa mak ok pb