Report: Karni crossing operating far below potential

By Aluf Benn

The Karni crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel is, for all intents and purposes, closed to Palestinian merchandise from the Strip, despite pledges by Defense Minister Amir Peretz to keep it open as much as possible, according to a report by the Peres Center for Peace.

Karni is the Gaza Strip's main economic artery; but according to the report, which was completed this week, "the crossing is operated in a very limited fashion, has low output and is far from reaching its potential."

As a result, the promised improvement in the economy of the Gaza Strip has not materialized, the report states.

According to the Peres Center, over the past four weeks since Peretz's announcement of the opening of the crossing, it has been closed only eight days. However, on the days it was open, only 454 trucks with merchandise from Gaza passed through - an average of 23 trucks a day. In the November 2005 crossings agreement, Israel pledged that 150 trucks a day would cross through Karni from the Gaza Strip.

More at;
Haaretz

'Last update - 13:28 22/06/2006
Hamas urges monitors to reopen Rafah crossing to Gaza
By Reuters

The ruling Palestinian militant group Hamas urged European monitors to reopen Gaza's main international gateway after it remained shut on Thursday in the wake of Israeli security concerns.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt has been closed since Wednesday when the Israel Defense Forces shut the nearby Kerem Shalom passage ito the southern Gaza Strip over a security alert. Monitors use the passage to get to Rafah.

Hamas has said it suspected Rafah was shut to stop its government from carrying cash by hand into Gaza to sidestep a Western aid embargo. The monitors have denied the accusation.

>snip

The army has said monitors could get to Rafah via a northern crossing. But the monitors say Rafah could still not open unless the Kerem Shalom liaison office was functioning.

Rafah is the key gateway to the outside world for Gazans because Israel severely restricts access through its own borders with the strip. Little trade passes through Rafah.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/730294.html

______________

Map of Gaza;

the israelis have no authority over the egytian/palestenian border:

In the past, Israel would often respond to bombings by temporarily closing the border crossing. It no longer has that authority.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.rafah08dec08,1,2757341.story?page=2

_________

whats interesting is that all of a sudden an israeli terror alert and the europeans who might now get hit, rush to close the border, to protect themselves...and blame israel at the same time....

guess its now the europeans thats making the gaza into a "prison, concentration camp...etc.

By Reuters

Gaza's border with Egypt, its main international gateway, reopened Thursday afternoon, after the international monitors overseeing its operation returned.

Earlier Thursday, the Hamas-led Palestinian government urged European monitors to reopen Gaza's border with Egypt.

"Operations in Rafah have resumed," a spokesman for the monitors said after the crossing was closed for much of the day.

"It is not acceptable to us that the sole gateway between the Gaza Strip and the outside world is closed," said Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

The Gaza-Egypt border has been closed since Wednesday, when the Israel Defense Forces shut the nearby Kerem Shalom passage into the southern Gaza Strip due to a terror alert. The observers supervising the Gaza-Egyot border use the passage to get to Rafah.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/730294.html