I propose to take Questions Nos. 50, 61, 75, 86, 106, 120 and 203 together.
The Government and our partners in the EU warmly welcomed the conclusion of the Agreement on Movement and Access between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on 15 November, with the assistance of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and High Representative Solana. The agreement represents a major step towards improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza and promoting economic development following Israel's disengagement.
It provided for the opening before the end of November of crossing points between Gaza, Israel and Egypt. It enables the export of all agricultural products from Gaza during the current harvest season. It establishes arrangements, which we hope to see finalised this month, for convoys between Gaza and the West Bank and it provides for the construction of a seaport in Gaza, and further discussion on rebuilding the airport. The EU is working together with the US and other members of the international community to ensure that the parties resolve the outstanding issues under the agreement and maintain their commitment to its full implementation.
At the invitation of both parties, the EU agreed to play a third party role to ensure that the agreement could take effect. The meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council which I attended in Brussels on 21 November decided to launch an ESDP mission to monitor the operation of the border crossing point at Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border, and to help build Palestinian border management capacity. The Government has contributed €200,000 towards the set-up costs of the mission.
It began operations on 25 November, with the re-opening of the crossing point. It is expected to last for 12 months, with a total staff of some 70 personnel drawn from member states. We expect that the mission will be fully operational in January, which will allow continuous opening of the crossing. So far, the crossing has opened for some six hours a day, which has, in fact, been sufficient to meet the needs at the moment of the population of Gaza.
The concept of operations for the mission is a confidential document setting out the parameters under which it will act. The overall role of the mission, however, is to monitor, verify and evaluate the performance of the Palestinian authorities in implementing the agreed principles for the Rafah crossing. It also contributes to Palestinian capacity building in border and customs management and to liaison between the Palestinian, Israeli and Egyptian authorities in all aspects of the management of the crossing point. It is important to note that the mission in no way detracts from the Palestinian Authority's responsibility for border and customs management.
The overall role of the EU was reviewed at the meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council which I attended in Brussels on 12 December. The EU-Israel Association Council had been due to meet the same day. However, the Israeli Government requested a postponement in view of the opening of the general election campaign in Israel. I look forward to the rescheduled meeting during the Austrian EU Presidency, in the first half of 2006. I do not believe that suspension of the association agreement, which would require consensus within the European Union, would serve the interests of any of the parties. Such action could seriously undermine the role of the EU in the peace process and create difficulties in implementing programmes of assistance to the Palestinian Authority.