Palestinians injured in crush at border

[breakaleg]

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Palestinian border guards wielding clubs and firing toward the ground pushed back hundreds of Palestinian travelers who surged toward a Gaza-Egypt border terminal Thursday during a rare opening of the coastal strip's only gateway to the world.

Seven Palestinians were hurt, including two by gunfire, and passenger traffic into Egypt was halted by midmorning because of the chaos. A 61-year-old man on his way to a medical checkup in Egypt died of a heart attack.

Under a U.S.-brokered 2005 agreement on Gaza's crossings, the Rafah terminal at the Gaza-Egypt border is controlled by the Palestinians and Egypt, along with European monitors. However,
Israel has the final say on whether Rafah opens because the European monitors won't report to the crossing without Israel's approval. Since the June kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-allied militants, the border has been closed 81 percent of the time, according to European monitors.

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Palestinian negotiators Saeb Erekat said he met Wednesday with U.S., European and Israeli officials to discuss the Rafah situation. Erekat demanded that operations at Rafah return to normal.

"If the border was open on a regular basis, you wouldn't see the scenes you witnessed today," Erekat said.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070308/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_border_crush;_ylt=AllAVNuj_vwMUMHw.kn8S0ILewgF