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Last month, the EU Civilian Operations Commander (CivOpsCdr) for all EU’s civilian Common Security Defence Policy (CSDP) Missions and Director of the EU Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability met with Guenther Freisleben, Head of the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) in Rafah. The occasion was the presentation of the Mission’s 6-Monthly Report to Political and Security Committee and the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management in Brussels.

The Head of the Egyptian Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority, Ambassador Essam Ashour welcomed Guenther Freisleben, Head of the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) in Rafah, at his office in Ramallah.

To enable an enhanced effort in combatting counterfeiting, 19 officers from different Palestinian border agencies, operating under the umbrella of the General Administration for Border and Crossings (GABC), attended a 4-day training earlier this month.

The training session was organized by EUBAM Rafah in collaboration with the ‘Technical Assistance and Information Exchange’ program (TAIEX). It aimed at providing theoretical and practical knowledge on multi-agency cooperation in the fight against transit and carriage of counterfeited products.

On January 22nd - 24th 2018, EUBAM Rafah mission organized a 3-days training in collaboration with TAIEX - Technical Assistance and Information Exchange program.

19 participants from different border agencies attended the activities, which took place at the GABC training center at Al Karama terminal, in Jericho.

The training, held by 2 TAIEX experts from France and Latvia and by EUBAM Rafah staff, was aimed at introducing the main concepts concerning strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation applied to a public administrations.

The EU's Political and Security Committee has appointed Günther Freisleben, a high-ranking police official serving in the Baden-Wuerttemberg police, as new Head of the European Union border assistance Mission for the Rafah Crossing Point, EU BAM Rafah.

The Council has extended the mandate of the EU border assistance mission for the Rafah crossing point (EU BAM Rafah), as well as the mandate of the EU coordinating office for Palestinian police support (EUPOL COPPS) until 30 June 2018. These missions are part of wider EU efforts in support of Palestinian state building in the context of working towards a comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution.

On 01 June 2017, EUBAM Rafah organized its Annual Medal Parade. A yearly occasion to reward the Mission’s team for the work accomplished with the Palestinian counterparts and international stakeholders. This year, the Mission was privileged by the presence of the first head of EUBAM Rafah Mission, Gen. Pistolese, as well as other representatives from the sister mission, EUPOL COPPS. Gen. Pistolese was congratulated and made a short speech while briefing attendees on the experience of the first EU Mission to serve at the Rafah Crossing Point. The HoM, Ms.

From 23 to 25 May 2017, 19 participants from different administrations of the General Administration for Border and Crossings (GABC) attended a second TAIEX training, on IPR and ‘Fight against Counterfeiting’, funded by the ‘Technical Assistance and Information Exchange’ program (TAIEX) in collaboration with EUBAM Mission.

On 23 May 2017, the opening ceremony of the GABC Rehabilitated Training Center located at Al Karamah Terminal in Jericho was successfully achieved.

EUBAM Rafah HoM Ms. Natalina Cea and GABC GD Mr. Nazmi Mouhanna chaired the opening ceremony with the presence of border agencies top managers, officers, instructors, and EUBAM mission staff members.

From 15 to 18 May 2017, EUBAM Rafah organized a study visit held in Finland. 8 representatives from the General Administration for Borders and Crossings (GABC) participated to this study visit and met with experts from the Finnish authorities.

The study visit was hosted by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Customs Administrations, which aimed at providing the participants with an understanding of the EU best practices in the implementation of the Integrated Border Management (IBM) concept.