(Updates with news conference) By David Brunnstrom and Mark John BRUSSELS, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Egypt urged Europe on Sunday to help with fast reconstruction aid for the Gaza Strip and to put pressure on Israel to quickly reopen border crossings. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said after talks with European and Palestinian counterparts in Brussels he hoped an international donors' conference could be staged for Palestinian reconstruction by Feb. 28. He also said he hoped a united Palestinian government could be established to deal with funds raised. "I ask the European Union to do (things) very, very quickly to rebuild to help the Palestinians to get out of this crisis," he said before the Brussels talks. "We need to force the Israelis to negotiate and also tell them to open crossings and to give Palestinians a chance to live in a normal way," he told reporters. Aboul Gheit said after the talks a reconstruction conference would require damage assessments and the support of the European Union, the United Nations and others. "Reconstruction is not something that will take place overnight. It will take a certain time," he told a joint news conference with his counterparts. "Once we have agreed on a conference and the amounts to be collected, I would imagine that by then we may well be looking towards a government of national reconciliation, a Palestinian government which would be capable of using these funds." EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the European Union would like to see Israel contributing to the reconstruction efforts. EU URGES UNITY GOVERNMENT Czech Foreign Minster Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said all agreed on the need to act "swiftly and concretely" to help Gaza. He stressed the EU view that a united Palestinian government led by President Mahmoud Abbas was fundamental to progress and called for crossings to Gaza to be kept open "on a regular and predictable basis". "We can intervene as soon as the parties concerned wish," he added. With shaky unilateral ceasefires in place after a 22-day Israeli offensive on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, Israel has said it would allow in food, medicine and other essentials to the sector but ruled out a full reopening of borders for now.The EU has said it is ready to reactivate and expand a mission launched in 2005 to monitor the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, but says agreement on that is hampered by the split between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's rival Fatah, which lost control of Gaza to Hamas amid fighting in 2007. EU ministers said they won assurances from Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni last week that crossings would be opened for humanitarian aid, while Livni urged the EU to help combat weapon smuggling into Gaza. European officials stress their scope for action is limited while Cairo refuses to have a foreign presence on its soil to monitor the Egyptian end of a network of tunnels bringing in supplies -- including arms, according to Israel -- to Gaza. France is sending a naval mission to pre-empt arms supplies coming into Gaza, and there are talks among EU states about the possibility of a further maritime mission in the Red Sea. (Editing by Dominic Evans)
A Hamas police officer stands near the parliament building destroyed during Israel's offensive in Gaza, January 25, 2009. Some 1,300 Palestinians, including at least 700 civilians, were killed, Palestinian medical officials ...
