Surprise! Hamas bans EU observers from Rafah

On Monday, I reported that the EU, absurdly, expected to be able to resume monitoring the Rafah border with the EUBAM. I noted that there is no way that Hamas would allow such a thing unless the EUBAM mandate, which I quoted, was radically changed.

It turns out that Hamas responded pretty much as I expected.

From Middle East Monitor:

The Head of the Gaza Border Agency, Maher Abu-Sabha, has refused entry to the EU Mission charged with monitoring the border with Egypt at Rafah. The Mission was planning to return to Gaza after an absence of six years.

Speaking to a Palestinian newspaper, Abu-Sabha insisted that the Rafah Crossing is Palestinian and is under absolute Palestinian sovereignty. "There is no need for an EU mission in Rafah," he said.

EU High representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton said earlier that the EU is thinking about resuming the work of the EU mission at the Rafah Crossing; it was suspended when Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006.

"Why does the EU think that it needs to come back?" asked Abu-Sabha. "Didn't it abandon Palestinian patients who needed the mission's help to cross the border for treatment abroad?"

But will EUBAM be dismantled? Nah. Doing that would be tantamount to admitting that well-meaning moonbats cannot compete with radical Islamists.

So EUBAM employees will continue doing the easiest job in the world, hanging out in Israel with nothing to do and getting a nice salary. As they have for the past five years. (They occasionally pretend to consult for the PA security services to justify their existence.)

(h/t Josh)