News

On 19 March 2018, Dr. Saeb Erekat, the Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee, received the Head of the European Union Border Assistance Mission in Rafah, Guenther Freisleben, at his office in the Negotiations Affairs Department in Jericho.

The meeting took place in the context of the Mission’s contribution to the liaison between the Palestinian, Israeli and Egyptian authorities in aspects related to border management.

On 8 March 2018, H.E. Hazem Khairat, Ambassador of Egypt to Israel welcomed the Head of the European Union Border Assistance Mission in Rafah, Guenther Freisleben to an introductory meeting at his residence in Tel Aviv. 

Mr. Freisleben outlined the fundamental role of the Mission in monitoring and mentoring and briefed the Ambassador on the activities currently conducted by the Mission to build a robust border management capacity within the group of Palestinian Authority border officials. 

Guenther Freisleben, the Head of the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) Rafah visited Rafah Crossing Point (RCP) on 12 February 2018 for the first time since assuming his duties in December. During the visit, the Head of Mission met with PA officials and toured the border terminal.

EUBAM Rafah is mandated to provide a third party presence at the RCP between Gaza Strip and Egypt  and to liaise between the Palestinian, Israeli, and Egyptian Authorities in all aspects related to the management of the Rafah Crossing Point.

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.