Gaza-Egypt

     Hamas on Wednesday demanded a central role in controlling the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt in an open challenge to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of crisis talks in Cairo. Hamas Islamists, who seized control of Gaza in June after routing Abbas's secular Fatah forces, blasted open the Egyptian border last week in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade, allowing hundreds of thousands of Gazans to pour into Egypt to stock up on goods in short-supply. Hamas signalled that it could prevent Egypt from re-sealing the border unless its own authority at the border crossing was recognized. "Talking about a partial role contradicts reality," said senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar as he crossed through the Rafah border terminal into Egypt to take part in talks on the future of the breached border, Haaretz reported. "The reality is that there is a legitimate government. We will not give up our legitimacy to anybody," he said.(11,22)