MIDDLE EAST:Hamas used a bulldozer to widen a breach in the Gaza-Egypt border yesterday so trucks could pass out of the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory despite Egypt's efforts to seal the crossing, witnesses said.
An armed Hamas militant clung on to the outside of the yellow bulldozer's cab as the driver went about his work, and a number of other armed men close by provided additional cover.
Local Palestinian residents and the waiting truck drivers cheered "crush the barrier" and shouted out "Hamas" as the bulldozer cleared a path wide enough to allow trucks to pass in either direction.
The drivers then hurried back to their vehicles to cross the border in the fading light while Egyptian forces, who earlier this week closed two other crossings and narrowed the third, backed away and watched from a distance.
The development came as a second day of talks between Egypt and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was winding down. Mr Meshaal left for Damascus shortly after with no agreement reached with Cairo.
"We covered a large stretch in the talks but we didn't reach an agreement, and it was decided there will be a new round of talks soon," said Imad al-Alami, a member of the Hamas delegation.
Egypt called in police reinforcements on Thursday to seal gaps made last week by Hamas, whose militants blasted open the border to let hundreds of thousands of Gazans into Egypt to hunt for food and supplies in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade. A senior Egyptian security official said Egypt had given orders to close the border in phases in order to minimise friction with Palestinians. But they backed off yesterday after Hamas militants threatened to blow another hole in the wall, the Palestinian witnesses added.
Since the first breach was made, Egyptian forces have used cement and sandbags to seal gaps in the border and to reinforce their own positions.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has rejected Hamas demands it control the border and won US, European and Arab backing to take control of the Rafah crossing without Hamas. But it is unclear how Abbas, the Fatah leader whose authority is now limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would be able to exert control over Rafah given opposition from Hamas, whose forces control the Gaza Strip. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a newspaper interview that Mr Abbas would be to blame for any failure of the Cairo talks and that Hamas had ideas on how to run the Rafah crossing.