Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has won support from Egypt and the EU for a plan that would see the Palestinian Authority, rather than Hamas, take control of the Rafah crossing.

The move comes as Egyptian and Hamas security forces repaired breaches to the border, in a sign the crossing between and Gaza will close after six days.

Several hundred thousand Palestinians have poured into Egypt since Hamas fighters blew up parts of the fence at Rafah last week.

The breach came after an Israeli blockade of Gaza cut vital fuel and aid supplies.

Shops were rapidly running out of supplies on the Egyptian side of Rafah on Monday.

'Legitimate government'

Despite co-operation between Egypt and Hamas to seal the border, Arab foreign ministers and Palestinian officials presented a united front in Cairo against control of the border by the Islamist group.

"The only way to reopen the Rafah crossing is going back to that agreement," Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, who attended the meeting in Cairo, said on Monday.

He was referring to a border-control system set up in 2005 that stipulated that the Palestinian Authority (PA) should run the Rafah crossing with Israeli and EU monitors in place.

"We will run the crossings as if Hamas was not there."

The agreement was endorsed by Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Egyptian foreign minister.

The Rafah crossing has has largely been closed since June 2007 when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip.

However Taher Nunu, the Hamas government spokesman, said Hamas is a legitimate government and should not be excluded from any arrangements regarding the crossing.

"We will discuss the new arrangement with the Egyptian brothers to ensure the opening of the crossing, and that it becomes an Palestinian-Egyptian crossing where the occupation has no relation," he said.

The 2005 agreement does not recognize Hamas' total control over the Gaza Strip and its border with Egypt, since it took over last year.

EU monitoring

Hamas says its main objection to the 2005 system is that Israel uses cameras and computers to track everyone who passes in and out of Gaza.

Six days ago the border wall with Egypt was destroyed by Hamas fighters in a bid to end an Israeli imposed blockade on the Gaza strip.

Aboul Gheit told the European Union and the US that it is important that Israel co-operate with the efforts to control the border crossings.

In a statement issued on Monday, Aboul Gheit said this should be done "through the deployment of the Palestinian Authority [forces] and ... European Union monitors."

Separate meetings

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and Fatah leader, and a delegation from Hamas are due to hold separate meetings with Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president in Cairo, on Wednesday.

Abbas has refused to talk to Hamas until the group gives up control of Gaza.

But Hamas was very much in evidence in Rafah on Monday.

Its security personnel dressed in blue camouflage helped Egyptian border guards put up the fence across the Brazil crossing point.

The two security services also worked side by side to control traffic at the main Salah Eddin crossing point.

PHOTO CAPTION

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and Fatah leader