Israel reopens Gaza border crossing

Concerns over security had been behind closings

By Rafael D. Frankel, Globe Correspondent

JERUSALEM -- Israel reopened the Karni crossing from the Gaza Strip yesterday, allowing humanitarian goods to flow into the coastal Palestinian territory again after closing the crossing for more than two weeks because of what Israel called security threats.

The move came just three days after a report by the World Bank said the November accord brokered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice governing the flow of people and goods from Gaza to Israel and the West Bank had unraveled. Farmers have complained of hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost sales in recent months because of the border closings.

Trucks carrying basic foods and medicines were allowed into Gaza yesterday, but the army said the Defense Ministry had not yet decided whether Karni would open fully to allow imports and exports from Gaza.

Israel has twice shut down the Karni goods crossing and has also restricted the number of Palestinian workers who enter Israel each day through the Erez checkpoint since the agreement in November, citing security concerns. Both crossings have been the targets of deadly Palestinian attacks since the last intifadah broke out in 2000. Erez has been attacked 16 times, most recently last month.

The closures have caused millions of dollars worth of produce from Palestinian greenhouses to rot or whither on the vine, and have blocked thousands of day laborers from entering Israel over the last few months, the World Bank report said.

The Rafah border crossing from Gaza to Egypt is open, as stipulated in the deal, but Israel has not yet permitted the daily convoy that was to begin transporting goods and people between Gaza and the West Bank on Dec. 15.

Following the World Bank's assessment, Israeli and Palestinian officials traded recriminations over the breakdown of the agreement, which Rice brokered during a November visit here after shuttling between the two sides during an all-night bargaining session.

While Israeli officials cited threats on the crossings as the reason for the Karni closure and limits on Erez foot traffic, Palestinians said Israel was playing politics and engaging in collective punishment of Gaza's 1.3 million people.

''The whole theme behind supporting disengagement was to improve the economy of the Palestinians and the livelihood of the Palestinians, and it has gone backward ever since that time," Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat said. ''[Israel] wants to create new political realities."

According to the World Bank report, which was an interim evaluation of the accord's results, at no time did the number of workers who were allowed through Erez, nor the number of trucks allowed to ship goods through Karni, reach the levels stipulated in the agreement. Israel also refused to allow the convoys between Gaza and the West Bank to operate, saying it would only do so following the cessation of Qassam rocket attacks that strike southern Israel almost daily.

Israel closed Karni for three weeks in January after receiving intelligence that Palestinian militants were digging tunnels underneath the terminal there. After not finding anything, Israel reopened it on Feb. 3, only to shut it 18 days later after what the army called an underground explosion.

''We are not going to pay for Palestinian welfare with the blood of our people," Israeli government spokesman Ra'anan Gissin said. ''Agreements are based on bilateral security arrangements. If one side does not fulfill their part, then we have no agreement."

In addition to the attack at Erez, the amount of rifles being smuggled into Gaza from Egypt has increased by around 300 percent since Israel ceded control of that border to the Palestinian Authority as part of the November agreement, according to Israel's chief of internal security, Yuval Diskin. Moreover, a number of militants have crossed into Gaza through Rafah with the approval of the Palestinian Authority despite objections from Israel, both sides say.

Among those hardest hit by the closures are Palestinian farmers who are growing fruits and vegetables in greenhouses left in Gaza by Jewish settlers. Under a last-minute deal, a group of mostly American philanthropists purchased around 790 acres of greenhouses from the settlers before they evacuated Gaza for a total of $14 million and then donated them to the Palestinians.

The first crops produced in the greenhouses under Palestinian control were highly successful, with around 1,000 tons of strawberries, hot peppers, tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes being shipped to Israel and Europe before the Karni closure.

According to a report issued by USAID, by March 5 the closure of Karni resulted in around $4.4 million in agriculture losses for Gaza farmers. Every day Karni remains closed, the main group of greenhouses run by the Palestinian Economic Development Corporation, or PEDC, loses around $130,000, said its chief executive, Bassil Jabir.

''What we are seeing is a real catastrophe," Jabir said, refusing to assign blame to any one party for the Karni closure. ''I'm not a politician, I'm an investor. I'm suffering because I can't get my product out. If there are issues that need to be resolved on the two sides, they should sit down and solve it. But let me get my stuff out."

The PEDC had employed over 6,000 Palestinians to work in the greenhouses, though some who had worked for Jewish farmers before the disengagement reported in December that their hours were reduced. Due to the closures, Jabir said he has slashed the workforce to 3,500 and is planning further cuts of as many as 2,000 more jobs.

Israeli textile and export businesses with ties to Gaza have also taken economic hits from the closure. The Israeli firm that signed a deal with the PEDC to export Gaza produce to Europe said it has lost around $120,000 already this season.

''It's one big disaster," said Avi Kadan, the managing director of Adafresh. Both Kadan and Jabir were at a December meeting at Karni attended by representatives from the Israeli Army, Palestinian Authority, and USAID, in which the relevant parties all agreed to do their best to keep the crossing open.

''I had promises. Everybody said they plan to cooperate and keep the border open and suddenly in January they closed the border for security reasons. What can you do against security reasons? Nothing," Kadan said.

©2006 Globe Newspaper Company.