A Palestinian security official inspects a truck carrying goods into Gaza through the Karni crossing. Karni is the only entry point for goods into Gaza and is frequently closed by Israel. (Wesam Saleh, Maan Images)

Introduction

One year ago, the colonization of the Gaza Strip came to an end, with the evacuation of Israeli settlers and soldiers. Israel's military occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), however, continues. Israel strictly controls virtually all access in and out of the Occupied Gaza Strip thereby controlling the movement of both goods and people. Despite the evacuation of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, the army has continued to strictly control almost all Palestinian movement - control that has not stopped for more than 39 years.

When Israel first announced its disengagement plan Palestinians feared that: (1) the Gaza Strip would be cut off from the rest of the world and (2) world attention would focus on Israel's evacuation as a "concession" and ignore Israel's ongoing control over Gaza as well as its colonization and control of the West Bank. Below is an update on the status of the Gaza Strip and West Bank following the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip.

Entry of People into the Gaza Strip and Freedom of Movement

Background: The Rafah crossing point is the only Palestinian access point into Egypt. Although the crossing point is situated more than 6 kilometers away from the border with Israel, Israel continues to maintain significant control over Palestinian movement (both people and goods) at this and every other entry and exit point.

The Erez crossing point is the only crossing point for Palestinians seeking to enter Israel in order to work or to travel to the West Bank. An estimated 98 percent of Palestinians are barred from using this crossing point for "security reasons." Foreigners are also barred from entering the Gaza Strip unless Israeli permission is first obtained. Such permission is not automatically granted, and, if granted, often takes up to weeks to be granted.

Status: In November 2005, with the assistance of US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, the Israeli government agreed to the opening of Rafah crossing point for Palestinian-only travel. Foreigners and Palestinians without Israeli-issued IDs (an estimated 54,000 Palestinians) are prohibited from entering the Gaza Strip through Rafah crossing point. European monitors were dispatched to the border crossing but Israel continued to monitor Palestinian movement at the border crossing.

In June 2006, Israel refused to allow the European monitors to operate at the border crossing and the crossing point has, since June 2006, been completely closed for travel to Egypt and has only opened once to allow some (but not all) Palestinians abroad to return to the Gaza Strip.

Since Israel's evacuation, the Erez crossing point has been repeatedly closed for unspecified "security reasons." Palestinian workers have been denied entry into Israel since March 2006 and only a handful of Palestinians have been permits to travel from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. Foreigners continue to be required to obtain Israeli permission to enter the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that Israel claims that it has "left" Gaza.

Safe Passage and Freedom of Movement

Background: Currently, Palestinians require Israeli permits to travel: (1) within the Occupied West Bank; (2) between the Occupied West Bank and the Occupied Gaza Strip and (3) to Israel.

Under the Oslo Agreements, Israel was supposed to have instituted a "safe passage" between the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to ensure freedom of movement for Palestinians within Occupied Palestinian Territory. Passage through the "safe passage" remained subject to strict Israeli control and in 2000 Israel closed the safe passage route thereby isolating the Occupied Gaza Strip from the rest of Occupied Palestinian Territory.

In order to ensure that Palestinians are not enclosed in a large prison, freedom of movement must be guaranteed. Yet, while Israel claims that it "disengaged" from the Occupied Gaza Strip, it continues to retain control over Palestinians (and hence their economy) by denying freedom of movement. Israel has effectively ensured that the Gaza Strip is cut off from the rest of Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Status: Since Israel's evacuation from the Gaza Strip, Israel has continued to deny Palestinians freedom of movement, both within the Occupied West Bank (including those areas from which it evacuated) as well as between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In November 2005, pursuant to the Agreement on Movement and Access, Israel was to institute a "safe passage" for Palestinians traveling between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Convoys were to take Palestinians between these areas, starting December 15, 2005. Israel has failed to institute the safe passage, despite Israeli and US assurances and not a single convoy ever traveled between these areas.

Movement of Goods within the OPT and between the OPT and Israel

Background: Currently, Israel exercises complete control over the Palestinian economy by controlling the movement of Palestinians and their goods. In the Occupied West Bank, for example, Israel maintains hundreds of checkpoints and barriers designed to fragment Palestinian communities. Palestinian goods are subject to a "back-to-back" system of movement, wherein Palestinian goods are unloaded and reloaded onto different trucks several times before reaching their final destination. For example, goods originating from Hebron (in the Occupied West Bank) destined for Nablus (also in the Occupied West Bank) must be unloaded and reloaded an estimated seven times. Obviously this increases transportation costs and the time for which goods reach their destination.

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Furthermore, Israel does not maintain systematized rules or procedures for the movement of Palestinian goods, thereby increasing risk and uncertainty among investors. In the Karni terminal (the sole terminal for the movement of Palestinian goods from the Occupied Gaza Strip), rules for the movement of goods are frequently changed by the Israelis.

In November 2005, under the presence of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israel agreed to allow for the movement of 150 export trucks per day.

Status: In spite of the agreement and in spite of Israel's evacuation from the Gaza Strip, Israel has refused to allow the free movement of Palestinian goods from Gaza and into Gaza. Today, owing to onerous and unpredictable searches, an average of 23 of trucks per day of Palestinian goods are allowed to leave the terminal, while none are permitted to enter from the West Bank. Israeli goods, which do not have to go through any security procedures, are shipped in daily on more than 300 trucks. Accordingly, Israeli goods are, as a result, often less expensive to Palestinians (as Israelis do not have to pay additional transportation costs) and therefore the Palestinians remain a captive market to Israel. (1)

In March, owing to Israel's closure of the crossing point, widespread flour and bread shortages were prevalent in the Gaza Strip. Basic food commodities continue to run in dangerously short supply.

Israel could have easily improved the economy by simply removing its barriers and checkpoints and by allowing Palestinian goods to move based on international principles of "door-to-door" wherein Palestinian goods are freely allowed to move without onerous security searches that are not imposed on Israeli goods. By creating certainty among investors, the economy of the Gaza Strip could have be revitalized and improved. The World Bank was in agreement with this conclusion: "Palestinian economic recovery depends on a radical easing of internal closures throughout the West Bank [and Gaza] the opening of Palestinian external borders to commodity trade, and sustaining a reasonable flow of Palestinian labor into Israel." (2)

Instead, the Gaza Strip has witnessed significant economic decline owing to Israel's closure of the Karni crossing point. Investors are unwilling to invest with such uncertainty. Indeed, despite a 2005 promise by G8 countries of a $3 billion investment in Gaza for its reconstruction, no money was invested in the Gaza Strip's redevelopment. (3)

Palestinian Airport

Background: The Palestinian International Airport was opened in 1998 by Presidents Clinton and Arafat and serviced Palestinians seeking to fly in and out of the Occupied Gaza Strip. The airport operated under the strict control of Israel. In 2000, the Israeli Army closed the airport and several months later destroyed the runway and control tower, with estimated damages exceeding more than $8 million. It has remained closed since 2000.

The Palestinian Authority sought to rebuild the airport immediately at an estimated cost of $26 million. Following the evacuation of the Israeli army, the Palestinian Authority also sought to open the airport.

Status: Since Israel's evacuation from the Gaza Strip, Israel has refused to allow the Palestinians to rebuild the airport and has refused to allow Palestinians to operate the airport. Israel continues to retain complete control over Palestinian airspace, despite the evacuation of its soldiers and settlers.

Seaport

Background: In 1999, in the Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement between the PLO and Israel, it was agreed that a seaport would be opened in Gaza for exclusive Palestinian use. In July 2000, construction began on the seaport but this construction was unilaterally halted by Israel in October 2000, as Israel refused to facilitate the movement of needed construction materials. An estimated 2 years are needed to build the seaport. Following Israel's evacuation, the Palestinian Authority sought to build and operate the seaport in order to improve the Palestinian economy and reduce reliance upon Israel's ports.

Status: Despite Israel's evacuation of the Gaza Strip, Israel failed to facilitate the construction of the Gaza Strip. Israel also failed to sign a letter to the donor community indicating that it is willing to facilitate the construction of the airport. This letter is needed in order to secure donor funds to assist in the construction of the seaport. Furthermore, Israel continues to control Palestinian territorial waters and has routinely prevented Palestinian fishermen from fishing off the coast of Gaza.

Status of Area to be Evacuated

Background: Under the Oslo Agreements, Israel divided the Occupied West Bank into three areas:

• Area A - This area consists of approximately 17.2% of the Occupied West Bank, divided into 13 separate, non-contiguous areas. The Palestinian Authority has responsibility for internal security and has wide civil powers.

• Area B - The area consists of 23.8% of the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority has civil control over the area, but overall security control rests with Israel. For all practical purposes, since September 2000, Area B has functionally ceased to exist and has been under full Israeli control.

• Area C - This area consists of 59% of the Occupied West Bank. Israel has full security and civil responsibility over these areas. This is the only contiguous area in the Occupied West Bank; it surrounds and divides Areas A and B. This area is primarily situated around the Israeli colonies of the West Bank. The colonies themselves are not subject to the classification of Area A, B or C.

Given that Israel dismantled four colonies in the Occupied West Bank, there, the evacuated areas surrounding the colonies should have become "Area A" and therefore fall within the complete control of the Palestinian Authority.

Status: Israel failed to hand over the evacuated areas to the Palestinian Authority and instead kept the areas under full Israeli control - "Area C". Israeli permission is required to enter the areas, despite the fact that no colonies remain there. Furthermore, the Israeli Army remains present in these areas, thereby denying Palestinians freedom of movement in the area.

Greenhouses

Background: Israeli settlers maintained a number of "organic" farms in the illegal Israeli colonies in the Gaza Strip. The produce was shipped to European markets where significant profit was made. Domestic markets for such products do not exist. An estimated 4,000 Palestinian farmers worked on these farms.

Although Israeli settlers were compensated for evacuating from the Gaza Strip, settlers sought additional compensation for the farm equipment that they would leave behind. Significant international (and in particular) US pressure was brought to bear on the Palestinian Authority to pay for the farm equipment. In July 2005, a group of donors came together and compensated Israeli settlers and additional $15 million USD on the condition that they leave the farm equipment for Palestinian use. Palestinians informed the donors that the farm equipment would be useless unless guarantees for the movement of the produce would be given.

Status: No such assurances were ever given and instead the settlers were additional compensated for worthless farm equipment. The Palestinian Authority invested millions of dollars in the development of the farms in order to maintain Palestinian employment in these farms. Yet, despite the millions of dollars of investment and guarantees by the US and Israel that the goods would be shipped to their European markets, Israel continued to close Karni crossing point and the goods eventually rotted. All 4,000 Palestinian employees are now unemployed and the development company that was formed to oversee the farms has declared bankruptcy.

Colony Expansion

As anticipated by Palestinians, Israel used the evacuation as a cover to continue its colony expansion in the West Bank. In exchange for the evacuation of 8,500 Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip, Israeli has built new homes in Occupied Palestinian Territory for an estimated 30,000 settlers. Major colonies, such as Ma'ale Adumim and Giv'at Ze'ev, have been expanded since Israel's evacuation from Gaza, all with little or no international condemnation.

(1) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Eighteenth Report on the Implementation of the Agreement on Movement and Access, 1 August 2006.
(2) See "Disengagement, The Palestinian Economy and the Settlements", the World Bank, June 15, 2004.
(3) For more information on the Gazan economy, see: Sara Roy, The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-Development (1995).