MIDDLE EAST: Hopes are high that the opening of a crossing will lead to full autonomy, writes Nuala Haughey
Amid considerable fanfare, Palestinians formally reopened Gaza's Rafah crossing into Egypt yesterday, three months after the last Israeli troops rolled out of the Strip after 38 years of occupation.
Yesterday's ribbon-cutting is an important milestone for the Palestinians, who for the first time are in charge of an international border crossing over which Israel will have no veto powers.
Rafah terminal will be open to Gazans from today, with a team of European Union monitors playing a unique role helping Palestinians to operate the passenger crossing, which has been largely sealed since last September.
The new regime at Rafah follows an Israeli-Palestinian borders deal clinched less than a fortnight ago after a final push by visiting US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
Freshly printed banners festooned the terminal area yesterday, declaring Rafah "Palestine's gateway to freedom", its opening "a step towards full autonomy" for the Palestinians.
Hopes are indeed high that an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on the opening of Rafah and other important transit routes will boost Gaza's stricken economy, as well as wider peace efforts, in the wake of last summer's departure of all Jewish settlers from the coastal enclave.
Gazans experienced modest prosperity born out of hopes of peace during the 1990s, when the Olso Accords led to increased trade and employment for workers in Israel. However, Israel slammed the doors again after the outbreak of violence in 2000, following the collapse of talks on Palestinian statehood.
This economic siege and the violent conflict led to a dramatic decline in investment and a drop of more than a third in average personal incomes. Some two-thirds of Gazans currently live beneath the poverty line, and unemployment runs at an average of about 30 per cent.
This rises to 43 per cent for males aged 15 to 24, a generation which has reached adulthood feeling increasingly impoverished and alienated, showing high levels of dysfunctional stress and wide support for Palestinian militant attacks against Israel.
For Gaza's economic fortunes to be revived, Israel's strangulation of the enclave on the Mediterranean Sea must finally end, say international and local experts.
"Our main problem here in Gaza from the economic view is that there is no airport or seaport and no free movement for products and people into and out of the Strip," says Yousef Abu Sultan from the Palestinian Economic Development Company (PEDC), which was set up with government funding last July to help attract investment.
Israel frequently seals its Gaza borders to trade and workers following security threats, Palestinian militant rocket attacks or even suicide bombs miles away inside Israel. For days on end, merchants are unable to export their goods through Gaza's main cargo crossing, Karni, which has itself been the target of Palestinian militant attacks.
The closures actually increased after Israel completed its withdrawal of troops and settlers from the Strip last September, leading to warnings by the UN's special envoy to the region, James Wolfensohn, that Gaza could be turned into a "giant prison" unless border crossings were fully opened.
While Israel says closures are a response to security threats, Palestinians see them as a form of collective punishment. Mr Wolfensohn has repeatedly argued that major border improvements can be made without compromising security.
Israel has now agreed to allow at least 150 daily truckloads of cargo to be exported from Gaza through the Karni crossing by the end of the year. This is up from the 50 truckloads a day that crossed before Israel pulled out from Gaza. At least 400 daily truckloads will be allowed to pass by the end of 2006.
In about a week's time, the first harvest of cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers grown in thousands of acres of greenhouses inherited from departing settlers will be sent to Karni terminal for export to Europe and Arab states.
By the end of the harvesting season, some 20,000 tonnes of produce, worth about €17 million should be exported via Karni, according to Mr Abu Sultan.
The greenhouses are one of Gaza's largest sources of employment, providing jobs for 6,000 workers, many of whom have simply returned to their old jobs, with Palestinian bosses instead of settlers.
Agricultural engineer Basel Abu Dagga (27) has overseen the replanting of 300 greenhouses in Gaza's former Netzer Hazani settlement, which only months ago were being used to cultivate kosher celery for Jewish markets in Europe and cherry tomatoes for Marks & Spencer.
Mr Abu Sultan is acutely aware that the greenhouse investment could turn to disaster if the tomatoes end up rotting in containers at Karni crossing due to Israeli closures. "If the Israelis refuse to let our produce through, we will throw them in the sea," he says.