As has been the case in every year since June 2007, the export of flowers and strawberries is the exception that proves the rule. While in 2005 Palestinian residents of Gaza exported approximately 70 truckloads per day to Israel, the West Bank and abroad, and while Israel promised, in the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access, to permit the transfer of 400 outbound trucks daily from Gaza, since June 2007, only 262 trucks have left Gaza – a daily average of one-third of a truck.

The overall export is summed up in the following table:

Trucks leaving Gaza on average per day, June 14, 2007 – Dec. 1, 2010

This year, the Ministry of Defense promised an increase in the levels of export: up to 10 trucks a day of strawberries and flowers during the winter, and for the first time since 2007, within the framework of the Dutch project, Israel is considering permitting export of cherry tomatoes and red peppers. The general ban on export – of furniture, clothes, and other agricultural produce – remains in place.

It is therefore not surprising that two-thirds of the factories in Gaza are not operating or operate at minimal capacity, and unemployment in the Strip hovers at around 40%.

The continuation of the general ban on export raises questions regarding the sincerity of Israel’s announcement that restrictions on goods entering and leaving Gaza will be limited to those necessary to address security concerns. If Israel can check trucks loaded with strawberries and flowers, why can’t it check the goods produced by factory workers in Gaza, as it did until June 2007? Another restriction, which has a less than clear relationship to security, is the refusal by the Ministry of Defense to allow Gaza residents to sell their products in Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan, as they did until 2007. If flowers enter Israel on their way to Europe, why does Israel refuse to allow them to continue to the West Bank or Jordan or to flower shops in Israel? The land crossings with Israel are the only way out for goods, because of Israel’s ban on movement via Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters.

Photos: Mohammed Azaiza

Perhaps the Defense Ministry has started to implement the plan announced by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman: to close the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip hermetically, thereby blocking all access between Gaza and the West Bank. Instead of being sold to Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan (the main markets for Gaza’s agricultural produce until 2007), Gaza’s strawberries and flowers have to make the long and expensive journey to Holland which leaves farmers with little profit.

Recently, Lieberman announced that “we will of course be happy, if we find buyers that are interested in purchasing from Gaza” and “we are willing to cooperate with anyone who is interested in investing money, and creating a market for Gaza’s products” (click here for the statement in Hebrew). Well, Minister Lieberman, the markets are waiting, and you don’t have to invest money, just open the crossings!

1. Between March 1 — March 5, 2010, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was open, and 4427 people passed through the crossing, including 461 students. Of these students, 100 were returned to Gaza by the Egyptians either because Egypt believed that they would seek to remain in Egypt, or because they were missing the requisite exit documents.
2. According to the latest information, 502 students are presently seeking to leave the Gaza Strip in order to realize their dreams and study in universities abroad. Yet why do students in Gaza aspire to study outside the Strip? Among the reasons is the fact that in Gaza it is not possible to study certain fields, such as dentistry, occupational therapy, veterinary studies, environment preservation and democracy and human rights. In contrast, degrees in all these areas are available in the West Bank.
3. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, the number of students that have received permission from Israel to study in the West Bank since 2000 stands at zero. This is due to the imposition by Israel of a sweeping prohibition on students from Gaza traveling to the West Bank in order to study there. Therefore, students from Gaza (who are able) focus on studying at universities abroad.
4. Since June 2007, Israel has imposed tight restrictions on the exit of students through the Erez border crossing, establishing strict criteria for the passage of students through Israel on their way to the Allenby border crossing (in Jordan) and from there to their studies overseas. As a result, students are forced to try and exit Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
   

   The Rafah crossing (source-B'Tselem)

5. Since June 2006 and the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, the Rafah crossing has been officially closed and has been opened on an ad hoc and irregular basis. This is contrary to the Agreement on Movement and Access concluded in November 2005, according to which the Rafah crossing must be open to the movement of people between Gaza and Egypt.
6. In total approximately 1600 people, including 502 students who are eager to start their studies abroad, were not able to exit Gaza via the Rafah crossing when it opened at the start of March. They are forced instead to wait until the next time the crossing is opened.
7. Yet they have no way of knowing when the next time will arrive.  

The Rafah crossing- a view from the Egyptian side (source- Oxfam)

The Israeli Defense Ministry’s hasty response, however, declaring that Kerem Shalom would be closed until further notice, raised concern among those trying to transfer humanitarian supplies to Gaza. It was not clear whether the closure of the crossing was a legitimate measure in response to a real and concrete security risk to the crossing and those who work there, or if the Defense Ministry decided to react as it had in the second half of 2008: In the months leading up to the Gaza war, Israel closed the civilian crossings as punitive retribution for rocket fire, not as a response to a concrete security threat.

Residents of Gaza breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday, when Israel permitted the reopening of the Kerem Shalom Crossing and the resumption of a minimum level of supply to the Strip. The dependence on Kerem Shalom is so great because it is virtually the only goods’ crossing that remains open; every closure thus blocks the transfer of goods that are in short supply in Gaza because of the Israeli-imposed “minimum humanitarian standard”.

Since the closure of Gaza began in June 2007, Israel has systematically worked to restrict the operation of the Gaza Strip’s crossings – policies that reached a peak with the closure of the Nahal Oz crossing at the start of 2010. And so, at this time, with the exception of the grain conveyor at the Karni Crossing, the Gaza Strip is dependent on one crossing – Kerem Shalom – which was originally designed for the occasional transfer of humanitarian aid and which has limited capacity. Israel has even insisted that Egypt transfer all aid to the Gaza Strip coming from its territory via the Kerem Shalom crossing and not via its own crossing at Rafah. Last week, Egypt announced that it would permit supply from its territory only via Kerem Shalom. This dependence on Kerem Shalom is well-known to those who shoot at it and to those who allow the shooting to take place.

Israeli policies to restrict the operation of the Kerem Shalom crossing stand in violation of international agreements it has signed, which take into account situations where a security risk may occur at a particular crossing. In these agreements Israel committed to three basic principles that were intended to ensure that the Gaza Strip crossings would function on a continuous basis, even in the presence of real security threats: the operation of alternative lanes (lane redundancy) and alternative crossings (passage redundancy), as well as a commitment to the primary aim: the principle of continuous operation. Yet as of 2010, virtually all alternative crossings have been closed.

Since Israel insists on enforcing an almost total closure policy that leaves the Gaza Strip “on the edge” in every aspect of life (food, goods, electricity, cooking gas and more), every closure of the single crossing still permitted to operate, when already only minimum amounts are allowed through it, threatens to push Gaza over the edge.

The other crossings have also been closed: Karni Crossing, which was the main trade route, has been closed since June 2007, and only one conveyer belt, used to transport produce and animal feed, has continued to operate on a partial basis since then. The Sufa crossing has not operated since September 2008 and Israel announced its permanent closure in March 2009. The transfer of goods via the Rafah crossing is prohibited. And so all of Gaza is now almost totally dependent on the Kerem Shalom crossing, which has limited capacity and was originally designed for the occasional transfer of humanitarian aid only. Now Israel apparently plans to burden Kerem Shalom with fuel and gas transports as well.

Of course, in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, Israel occasionally closes Kerem Shalom too, due to what it identifies as dangers to the crossing.

The possibility that security risks would threaten the opening of Gaza’s crossings was the subject of considerable forethought. As a result, three fundamental conditions designed to ensure that the Gaza Strip crossings would operate continuously were established and agreed to by Israel:  (1) Recognition of the need to operate alternative lanes (lane redundancy); (2) recognition of the need to operate alternative crossings (passage redundancy); and (3) the primary objective which Israel committed to in the Crossings Agreement: the principle of continuous operation.

It is hard to imagine how one crossing, consisting of only one primary lane, can fulfill these fundamental conditions.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to strike against the tunnels underneath the Egypt-Gaza border, via which the majority of goods required by Gaza residents are transported, including by blowing them up.

Under these circumstances, with the sea and air routes completely blocked, the tunnels rejected as a legitimate option, and the overland crossings increasingly shut down, how exactly are the residents of Gaza supposed to get the goods they need?