Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) – 41st bi-weekly implementation report (OCHA)

26 June 2007

Report No. 41

Implementation of the Agreement on Movement and Access

(30 May – 12 June 2007)

The United Nations is submitting the 41st bi-weekly report on the implementation of the 15 November 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA), covering the period 30 May – 12 June 2007.

1. Overall Progress:

Major inter-factional violence led to closure of crossings at the end of the reporting period. Until these closures, open days were up on the last reporting period. Karni Crossing was open for 11 days out of 12 (92%) scheduled days, compared with 8 out of 12 days in the previous period. Rafah Crossing was only open for 5 days out of 14 scheduled days (3 days more than the previous period) and 26% of scheduled operating hours compared to 13% during the previous reporting period.

Changes of note since Report No. 40 (29 May):

· Rafah crossing opened on 5 days: 4,711 people crossed into the Gaza Strip and 7,147 people left compared to 2,735 during the pervious period.

· Karni crossing was open on 11 out of 12 scheduled operating days, and 48% of scheduled working hours compared to 23% during the previous period. This enabled the import of a total of 2,857 truckloads goods (excluding aggregates/construction materials); an average of 261 trucks for every day open, into the Gaza Strip. Daily average for the previous period was 205 trucks per open day. A total of 377 truckloads of goods were exported, compared to 142 during the last reporting period. This is a daily average of 31 truckloads, representing 8% of the target of 400 truckloads of exported goods per day set under the AMA.

· Sufa crossing continued to be closed on all days. Israeli authorities said security is the reason for this closure.

· Kerem Shalom crossing, used for the import of humanitarian supplies, was closed on all days (compared to 1 day in the previous period).

· Erez crossing continues to remain closed to Palestinian workers. However, it remained partially open for the movement of Palestinian traders and humanitarian (medical) cases throughout the reporting period. On average, 585 traders crossed each day compared to 319 in the previous reporting period. The crossing closed on 12 June for Israeli Security concerns in relation to Palestinian factional clashes.

· Obstacles to movement in the West Bank increased by 1 over the previous reporting period (from 553 to 554). This is an increase of 178 obstacles or 47% over the baseline figure of August 2005.

/…

Full report: