Gaza border breakthrough expected

Palestinians expect a breakthrough soon on a key sticking point in Israel's handover of the Gaza Strip to Palestinian control, Cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan said yesterday.

He said the two sides were working to ensure Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt - now manned by Israel and Egypt - would be handed over to a combination of Egypt, the Palestinians and possibly a third party other than Israel.

Palestinians complain that Israel, which anyway intends to maintain its grip over Gaza's sea lanes and airspace, will turn the teeming strip, home to 1.4 million Palestinians, into a prison.

The world understands the Palestinian desire for Gaza not to become a prison, Mr Dahlan said. "And I expect a breakthrough in this regard." Mr Dahlan is the Palestinian in charge of coordinating the Israeli pullout.

Israeli military forces expect to be out of Gaza in mid-September, completing a withdrawal from the territory after 38 years of occupation, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday.

Israel finished extracting 15,000 settlers and supporters from Gaza and some of the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, two weeks ahead of schedule, under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from conflict with Palestinians.

While Israel intends to remove troops from a Gaza-Egypt border strip where it tried to stop arms-smuggling to Palestinian militants, it has not said when it will turn over Gaza's side of the border crossings to Palestinian control.

Mr Dahlan, the civil affairs minister, told reporters in Gaza City: "So far we are still following up with the Israeli side the possibility of introducing a real change on the crossings.