The closure of the Erez crossing hits Gaza's economy hard

The Beit Hanoun checkpoint, known as the “Erez Checkpoint,” is located in the far north of the Gaza Strip, in the town of Beit Hanoun. It is considered the only land corridor through which pedestrian movement is allowed, and it connects the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the occupied interior. This checkpoint is completely under the control of the occupation, and the General Authority for Civil Affairs is responsible for coordinating the issuance of the necessary permits to cross through it. The Israeli occupation controls the entry and exit of individuals through it. Certain categories are allowed to pass through it, including patients from the Gaza Strip, merchants, workers inside the occupied territories, some employees of international organizations, and exceptional humanitarian cases.

People passing through the Erez checkpoint suffer from complications that limit the ease of their movement, such as the difficulty of obtaining permits, or refusal to grant them in most cases, travel bans, long waits at the checkpoint to pass, inspections, returns without justified reasons, and ill-treatment.

In 2020, entry permits through the checkpoint were reduced; Due to the Corona pandemic and the resulting closure at all levels. This has negatively affected all groups forced to travel, especially patients receiving treatment in hospitals in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the occupied interior.

With the return of the checkpoint to work as usual, and despite the complex Israeli procedures, it remained the only outlet for the movement of workers searching for their livelihood inside the Palestinian territories, but the challenges that cast a shadow on this movement are many and grave. In every wave of escalation or tension, Israel closes the checkpoint (the crossing) and deprives thousands of people. Palestinians are unable to work, as happened last September when the occupation authorities decided to close the checkpoint for 12 consecutive days in response to the demonstrations carried out by revolting youth on the border fence.

This closure affected Gaza's already fragile economy and caused very large material losses estimated at millions of dollars. However, the economy is not considered the only gateway exhausted as a result of this closure. Rather, the matter goes beyond this aspect to many other challenges that force citizens in the Gaza Strip to remain in the crossfire as a result of the ongoing conflict. The Israeli measures are suffocating the sector and depriving it of any chance of recovery, as the fate of the Gazan worker has become dependent on the security situation. If calm prevails, prospects for work and livelihood open, and if tension prevails and doors and crossings are closed, then the danger is grave because it strikes the Gazan citizens deeply and deprives them of many advantages.

In light of the outbreak of confrontations on the border fence due to the delay in disbursing the Qatari grant to the citizens of the Gaza Strip and the pressure on Israel to raise the quota for workers to enter the workplace from approximately 18,000 workers to 20,000 workers, this condition must be fulfilled on the ground this time, as expectations indicate approval. An implicit statement to Israel regarding this, that in the coming times it may not be achieved and therefore demonstrations and protests will return, which will cause the closure of the barrier and perhaps the imposition of other Israeli sanctions such as reducing the fishing area in the Mediterranean and other measures that directly affect the lives of citizens..

The Erez checkpoint is considered the vital gateway between the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian interior, and it constitutes a true lung and outlet for the workers of the Strip. Therefore, this part must be preserved and the workers allowed to go to their workplaces daily without obstruction or prevention measures, as happened last month, and the workers and citizens of the Gaza Strip should be spared successive Israeli sanctions, especially the recent, It results in material losses amounting to more than five million shekels per day.

Gaza workers are reeling between the hammer of the occupation and its closures and the anvil of unemployment, hunger and poverty. If Qatar does not provide the monthly grant on time and if Israel does not allow an increase in the number of workers allowed to enter the occupied interior and Jerusalem to work, then the same problem that has been occurring for several years and was repeated last month will be renewed once again. Gaza workers themselves are victims of tensions and conflict that may extend for many years.