Israel has announced that activity at the Karni Crossing into Gaza is set to be terminated in the next few weeks. Activity will be relocated to the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the south, which is being expanded.
The Gazans have themselves to thank for the closure of the crossing, which follows dozens of shootings, mortar shellings and 'Kassam' short-range rocket attacks at or near the crossing since the beginning of 2011.
In a curiously low-key and almost apologetic statement, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, told members of the foreign press Thursday: "It's important to mention that many attacks took place in the Karni region. We’ve determined that the region is one of the most difficult to secure. Hamas and other terrorist organizations carry out diverse terrorist activities in the area and it became difficult not only to secure the crossing but also to enable the local Israeli civilian population to live peacefully."
While Arab propaganda depicts Israel as laying a cruel siege to Gaza, Israeli public diplomacy - derided as "a joke" by sympathetic critics - fails to stress that Hamas itself has, for years, systematically shelled, bombed and fired at the crossings into Gaza so as to prevent goods from entering. Some of these attacks have been lethal.
The Kerem Shalom crossing is by no means immune from Hamas attacks either. Maj. Gen. Dangot noted that "Recently, even at the Kerem Shalom Crossing we are seeing attacks. Some of the rockets fell in central regions of the crossing."
Despite the change, COGAT was happy to announce that import and export rates for Gaza will not be affected. In fact, he said, the Kerem Shalom Crossing will be expanding and branching out. Thus, for example, during the second half of 2011, approximately 450 extra-large import and export trucks will pass through the crossing every day. This is a 344% percent increase from the number of trucks entering and leaving over the same period of time last year, COGAT proudly announced, adding his hope that demand for Gaza exports might rise.
The crossing’s expansion is expected to be complete in the next few months. It will be equipped with new infrastructure including more traffic routes, more manpower and means of transportation and an oil and gas facility. Altogether, the Ministry of Defense has invested approximately 100 million shekels in the Kerem-Shalom project.
The Karni and Kerem Shalom crossings have been closed and reopened repeatedly in recent years. Stories that follow this pattern have appeared time after time on this website.
In April 2008, two Israelis were murdered in a terror attack at the crossing. A terrorist cell of some six to seven operatives used the cover of mortar fire to infiltrate through the depot, then shot and killed the two Israelis before escaping back through the terminal to the Gaza side.
The murdered men were Oleg Lipson, 37, and Lev Cherniak, 53 - both from Be'er Sheva. Lipson was an oleh (immigrant to Israel) from Tashkent and was married with a son. Cherniak also made Aliyah from the Former Soviet Union and left behind a wife.
Armored Corps soldier First Sergeant Gilad Shalit was part of a unit guarding Kerem Shalom when he was abducted by Gaza terrorists in 2006. He has been held incommunicado ever since.