Palestinians formally opened a border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Friday that will allow Gazans to travel abroad freely for the first time since Israel occupied the coastal territory in 1967, Reuters reported. "I think every Palestinian now has his passport ready in his pocket. Let them come to cross at this terminal whenever they want," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas cut the ribbon to open the terminal under a banner describing it as Palestinians' "crossing to freedom" to loud cheers from hundreds of onlookers. He later became the first person to have his passport symbolically stamped there. Cross-border movement at the terminal will be supervised by European Union monitors as part of a U.S.-brokered deal after Israel completed its Gaza pullout in September. --More 2004 Local Time 1704 GMT
