During May 2006, the Peres Center produced and published a position paper, entitled "Palestinian and Israeli Private Sectors Severely Hurt by Prolonged Closure of Karni Border Crossing", which outlines the detriment being caused to the Palestinian and Israeli private sectors as a result of the ongoing closure of the Karni border crossing.

The closure of the Karni crossing has caused severe economic and humanitarian problems in the Gaza Strip, and comes as a fatal blow to Gaza's private sector, which has lost tens of millions of dollars. Consequently, the closure is harming the Palestinian middle class, and thereby negatively affecting the moderate voices on the Palestinian side. Unknown to most, the closure of the crossing point is also harming the Israeli private sector to the sum of tens of millions of shekels, and has damaged the economic relations between the two sides.

While the Karni crossing serves as a main intersection for the passage of merchandise, beyond this, movement at the crossing is key to defining the economic relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. Indeed, the solution, or non-solution of the problem plays a major role in determining the future economic relationship between Israel and the Palestinians, shedding light on the possibility for future cooperation.

In light of these issues, the position paper – which has been disseminated to Israeli, Palestinian and international decision-makers – challenges Israeli leaders to examine whether the limited security benefits of closing the border crossing are preferable to the short and long term damage being caused as a result of the closure.

Download the position paper in English, Hebrew.