The
Karni Crossing is a
cargo terminalA container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between ships and land vehicles, for example trains or trucks, in which case the terminal is described as a maritime container terminal...
on the
Israeli Gaza Strip barrierThe Israel-Gaza Strip barrier is a security or separation barrier between the Gaza Strip and Israel, first constructed by Israel in 1994, and the Gaza Strip and Egypt, built after 2004.The barrier runs along the entire land border of the Gaza Strip...
. It is located in the north-eastern end of the
Gaza StripThe Gaza Strip lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of . The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories...
and was built in 1993 in order to allow
PalestinianThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
merchants to export and import goods. The Karni Crossing was also used by the residents of
NetzarimNetzarim was formerly an Israeli settlement established in Gaza in 1972. It began as a secular Nahal outpost of the Hashomer Hatzair movement; in 1984 it became an orthodox kibbutz. A few years later, the residents decided to change from a kibbutz to a village...
since the Karni road was the only route to that isolated
Israeli settlementIsraeli settlements are Israeli civilian communities in the Israeli-occupied territories . Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights...
on which Jewish travel was allowed after the 1994 implementation of the
Oslo AccordsThe Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles became a milestone toward the resolution of the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, one of the major continuing issues within the wider Arab-Israeli conflict...
. Unlike the
Erez CrossingThe Erez Crossing is a pedestrian/cargo terminal on the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. It is located in the northern end of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Israel.It is part of a complex formerly including the Erez Industrial Park....
, which is managed by the
Israel Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, Karni is managed by the
Israel Airports AuthorityThe Israel Airports Authority was founded in 1977 as a public corporation mandated by the Israel Airports Authority Law...
.
During the ongoing
al-Aqsa IntifadaThe Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
, the Karni terminal has been attacked several times by Palestinian militants in either mortar attacks or frontal infantry assaults, forcing temporary shut-downs for repairs and enhancement of security procedures.
The
Karni Crossing is a
cargo terminalA container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between ships and land vehicles, for example trains or trucks, in which case the terminal is described as a maritime container terminal...
on the
Israeli Gaza Strip barrierThe Israel-Gaza Strip barrier is a security or separation barrier between the Gaza Strip and Israel, first constructed by Israel in 1994, and the Gaza Strip and Egypt, built after 2004.The barrier runs along the entire land border of the Gaza Strip...
. It is located in the north-eastern end of the
Gaza StripThe Gaza Strip lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of . The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories...
and was built in 1993 in order to allow
PalestinianThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
merchants to export and import goods. The Karni Crossing was also used by the residents of
NetzarimNetzarim was formerly an Israeli settlement established in Gaza in 1972. It began as a secular Nahal outpost of the Hashomer Hatzair movement; in 1984 it became an orthodox kibbutz. A few years later, the residents decided to change from a kibbutz to a village...
since the Karni road was the only route to that isolated
Israeli settlementIsraeli settlements are Israeli civilian communities in the Israeli-occupied territories . Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights...
on which Jewish travel was allowed after the 1994 implementation of the
Oslo AccordsThe Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles became a milestone toward the resolution of the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, one of the major continuing issues within the wider Arab-Israeli conflict...
. Unlike the
Erez CrossingThe Erez Crossing is a pedestrian/cargo terminal on the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. It is located in the northern end of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Israel.It is part of a complex formerly including the Erez Industrial Park....
, which is managed by the
Israel Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, Karni is managed by the
Israel Airports AuthorityThe Israel Airports Authority was founded in 1977 as a public corporation mandated by the Israel Airports Authority Law...
.
During the ongoing
al-Aqsa IntifadaThe Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
, the Karni terminal has been attacked several times by Palestinian militants in either mortar attacks or frontal infantry assaults, forcing temporary shut-downs for repairs and enhancement of security procedures. Both Palestinians and Israelis have been killed in these attacks. As a passage point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, the Karni crossing has been used for hostile activities by armed forces from both sides. Palestinian militants have used the Karni terminal to smuggle suicide bombers and
explosive beltAn explosive belt is a vest packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers...
s into
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, the most notable successful suicide attack being in the
Port of AshdodThe Port of Ashdod is Israel's main cargo port, processing approximately 60% of Israeli marine cargo. The port is located in Ashdod, about 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, adjoining the mouth of the Lachish River...
bombing Israel also uses the crossing to transport tanks, soldiers and artillery into Gaza.
In 2006, the Israeli authorities closed the crossing for over 100 days, after the discovery of vast tunnelling from across the border to underneath the facility, meant to be filled with explosives and detonated. From September 2006 to June 2007, the crossing has been open daily save some brief closures due to Palestinian labour strikes.
The Karni Crossing was used for 'back-to-back' transfer in which merchandise and produce for the Israeli market or for export overseas is removed from a Palestinian truck and placed in an Israeli truck, or vice versa for incoming goods.
When
HamasHamas is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
took over the Gaza StripThe Battle of Gaza was a military conflict between Hamas and Fatah that took place between June 7 and June 15, 2007 in the Gaza Strip. It resulted in Hamas remaining in control of the Gaza Strip after forcing out Fatah...
, much of the equipment on the Palestinian side was destroyed, and the terminal was closed by the Israeli authorities ever since. The previous operators, who were affiliated with Fatah, have fled to the West Bank. Hamas has offered to bring Fatah back to Karni or hire a Turkish company to operate the Palestinian side, but Israel persistently refused to deal with Hamas, the de-facto authority in the Gaza Strip. On 25 June 2007, the UNWRA coordinator commended the IDF on moving humanitarian shipments to the secondary
Kerem ShalomKerem Shalom is a kibbutz in the Eshkol Regional Council and a border crossing near the meeting of the Gaza Strip-Israel-Egypt borders.- Kibbutz :...
and Sufa crossings, and hoped that Karni could be reopened soon as part of a longer-term solution.
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