CONDOLEEZZA RICE, the US Secretary of State, prolonged her trip to the Middle East last night in the hope of breaking the deadlock over border controls at Gaza.

The Palestinians claim that Gaza’s economy is being strangled by Israel’s continued control over the strip from which it evacuated 8,500 Jewish settlers in the autumn. The two sides have reached an impasse over the movement of goods and people through Israel’s 45-mile razor fence that surrounds the 1.3 million Palestinians.

International mediators had hoped that Dr Rice’s visit would help to resolve the situation at the Rafah passenger crossing into Egypt — which has been largely closed since September — and the sole goods crossings at Karni.

After meetings with Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Dr Rice spoke of the need for “greater freedom of movement” for Palestinians, while calling on the Authority to control militants.

“With enough will and creativity, I believe these issues can be resolved,” she said.

After she delayed her departure yesterday, the Israelis and Palestinians met for an unscheduled round of talks. Israel insists that it cannot risk suicide bombers, gunmen and weapons passing into Israel and the West Bank. Palestinians say that the restrictions highlight Israel’s continued occupation of the Gaza Strip.

James Wolfensohn, a former president of the World Bank and a Middle East envoy, this week echoed Palestinian complaints that Gaza risked becoming a “giant prison” unless Israel eased the border controls.

With fruit and vegetables accounting for nearly 50 per cent of Gaza’s exports, the scene at the Karni crossing is bleak — an endless queue of lorries waiting to be summoned by Israeli guards using loudspeakers.

After four days of queueing, Omar Ilatrash said that his truckload of cucumbers was spoiled: “If I have to spend another day here, two at the most, the tomatoes will be finished,” he told The Times. “I’ll just go and dump them in a field.”

From 50 truckloads a day before disengagement, barely a dozen pass through Karni into Israel now, compared with 300-plus in the other direction.

Dr Saleh Abdel Shafi, a Gaza economic analyst, said that it would be economically devastating for Gaza if the first harvest of the 3,000-plus settler greenhouses was wasted.

“Without solving the issues of access, no outside investors will come,” Dr Shafi said. “Who will sink money into a place where you have difficulty getting goods and people out?”

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