EU to look into reviving Rafah mission

The European Union has agreed in principle on Monday to revive an EU civilian mission in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says.

The European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) Rafah, has not been operational since 2007, when Hamas seized full control of Gaza.

“They gave me green light, the political green light to reactivate EUBAM, our mission in Rafah. This could play a useful role in supporting the entry of people into Gaza, in and out,” Borrell told reporters after a monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers that also saw key Arab ministers join the talks.

“But this has to be done in accordance with the Palestinian Authority, the Egyptians, and obviously Israel, Israel’s authorities. We are not going to do that alone. We are not going to be the outsourcers of the security in the border. We are not a security company,” he says, adding that the bloc would prepare technical plans for now.

Diplomats have said the mission is unlikely to be in place before hostilities in Rafah stop.

Borrell also says the bloc agreed for the first time to hold a meeting of the EU-Israel Council — the body that coordinates trade between the two — to discuss the situation in Gaza, respect of human rights, and the impact of a World Court ruling on the association agreement.

Borrell accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of making up claims of hatred against Jews for his own political ends, after the premier labeled ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan decision to seek arrest warrants against him and his defense minister as evidence of “new antisemitism.”

Borrell describes the comment as intimidation, saying accusations of antisemitism are made every time that anyone “does something that Netanyahu doesn’t like.”