The EUBAM Rafah mission, suspended, ready to restart?
(BRUSSELS2) Set up following the agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in November 2005, this monitoring mission at the Rafah crossing very quickly underwent political change after Hamas' victory in the January 2006 elections. and Israel's boycott of Gaza. Between June 2006 and June 2007, the crossing point – normally closed – was opened several times on an exceptional basis. This allowed 443 people to transit (coming from Gaza or Egypt). Since then the mission has been dormant. But since last May, a reinforcement and a rapid restart of the mission had been prepared by the CCPC (the Civil Crisis Staff in Brussels).
The presence could seem unnecessary
But for European diplomats, it is important to maintain a presence in the region. I had asked them why several times. And they answered me: “it is important that Europe retains a place in the region. If the situation changes and it is necessary to intervene, we must be ready”. Officially, the 27 had moreover, on several occasions, explained that “the EU is determined and ready to redeploy its personnel to the crossing point, as soon as conditions permit”.
The mission was thus regularly renewedµ
Finally, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense had decided to extend the mission until November 24, 2009. And a new chief appointed, the French Colonel of the Gendarmerie, Alain Faugeras, replacing Italian General Pietro Pistolese. Twenty European customs officers are still hard at work (18 international to be exact) based in Ashqelon.
A prepared redeployment plan
According to a mission reassessment report, restoring the operational capacity of the mission requires an immediate reinforcement of 28 people to allow a presence of two teams 7 days a week, followed by another reinforcement of 7 people to bring the capacity of the mission to 30 people. A decision of the Political and Security Committee (COPS) in May had provided for this reinforcement. After an initial call for contributions from Member States, an initial selection of 30 officers (borders, customs, liaison), from 23 Member States (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden), has thus been carried out. The goal fixed is to be able to return to full operational capacity in 10 to 14 days.
A few posts are still being recruited from elsewhere (essentially by secondment from Member States). Download
A necessary change of mandate for the European Parliament
On the occasion of the vote on a resolution last February, several MEPs – who had just returned from a visit to Gaza and the Palestinian territories – had asked for the mandate of the European mission to be reviewed. “If we want to relaunch the mission, we have to change its mandate, have an agreement not only with Israel but also with Egypt. A mission endowed with means of coercion, which is not only observers, which has an interposition mandate” believes Philippe Morillon (UDF). “As long as we have not put interposition forces, where there is the wall, there will be no solution. And only Europe can do it, the United States is too partisan” added the former UNPROFOR commander in Bosnia. "Maintain thehe peace is not enough, we need a peace-making force approved his Hungarian socialist colleague Gyula Hegyi.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
