The Erez checkpoint is a large, airport-like terminal with 12 passport booths, security cameras everywhere and men with guns topped with special targeting attachments. This is the crossing point into and out of the Gaza Strip from the Israeli side. When this writer crossed the checkpoint, the travelers there were a handful of foreigners, a couple of families and one older man who was held up because he had left Gaza using the Rafah crossing point and returned via the Jordan River crossing. It is difficult to get in or out of Gaza. One usually needs a permit, which is rarely given, or must be a foreigner working for an international agency or a recognized media outlet. Entering Gaza is most difficult for residents of Jerusalem and Israeli citizens, even if they are ethnically Arab.

After dealing with all the passport control issues, travelers exit through a metal door that opens on orders from an unseen location. Afterwards, they must make their way through a closed, 1.5-kilometer corridor. A golf cart — with a sign indicating it was donated by a Turkish solidarity group — is available for the trip. When asked, the driver said that he is paid by “Ramallah,” referring to the West Bank–based Palestinian Authority.

At the end of the corridor, travelers are greeted at a small office, where their documents are recorded. The office, No. 55, is occupied by “Ramallah” individuals as part of the Oslo Accords–sanctioned Israeli-Palestinian liaison committees. Once personal details are recorded, travelers are taken by taxi for another couple of kilometers to checkpoint No. 44, which is controlled by Hamas operatives. After a bag search, one presents his or her pass to enter Gaza. (Mine had been pre-arranged a few days earlier.)

This elaborate and bizarre crossing is no accident. It is the result of years of strategic planning by Israel to completely separate Gaza from the West Bank. This separation, made easier by mistakes committed at the Erez checkpoint itself, is part of the failure of the two Palestinian authorities — Hamas and Fatah — which have given up too easily on trying to ensure freedom of movement between the two Palestinian enclaves.