Egypt to keep border with Gaza Strip open

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - After three years of cooperating in the Israeli blockade of Gaza, Egypt said Monday that it will leave its border with the Palestinian territory open indefinitely for humanitarian aid and restricted travel.

With international pressure building to ease the blockade, an Egyptian security official said sealing off Hamas-ruled Gaza only has bred more militancy.

The decision to ease the restrictions erected by Israel to isolate and punish Hamas comes a week after a deadly Israeli raid on a flotilla of activists trying to break the blockade.

The move restores a link to the outside world for at least some of Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians. It also appeared calculated to defuse anger in the Arab and Muslim world over Egypt's role in maintaining the blockade and to show that Egypt, too, now is pressing Israel to open at least its land crossings with Gaza.

"Egypt is the one that broke the blockade," Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said. "We are not going to let the occupying power escape from its responsibilities."

Israel has not publicly protested the Egyptian move, but officials declined to comment Monday.

The U.S., which has called the current border restrictions unsustainable, is among those pressing for changes. Vice President Joe Biden met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

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