"I'll bet some of it is melting by now." Palestinian truck driver Majd al-Wahdiya was weary. He had waited for hours for word that his ice creams had passed elaborate security checks at an Israeli border crossing point that dictates the fortunes of businesses exporting from the Gaza Strip.
"One more loss my firm can't afford," said al-Wahdiya, one of hundreds of truckers who daily unload goods onto conveyors that take them through holes in a concrete wall so they can be reloaded on Israeli trucks at the Karni crossing.
Israel blames the delays on the need to stop infiltration's by Palestinian militants like the two suicide bombers who sneaked through Karni in a container last March and killed 10 people.
Karni's concrete divide typifies the cordon expected to stretch tight around Gaza even if Israel completes an evacuation of settlers from the occupied territory under a plan to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians by 2005.
A continuation of such border constraints would likely spell death for any hopes that Gaza might bloom into a peaceful, prosperous proving ground for a Palestinian state.
In a report last month the World Bank said the windfall of land from "disengagement" could prove worthless and Palestinian authority descending into chaos unless Gaza could trade freely with Israel and beyond.
Some see unrest in Gaza against Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority as a harbinger of future anarchy if the poor, tiny territory of 1.3 million people gains no means to become a viable entity.
"If Israelis only redeploy along borders rather than truly withdraw, making little difference to Gazans, we face a very inflammatory situation," said Muhammad Shtayyeh, director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction.
The "Disengagement Plan" promises the removal of 8,000 Jewish settlers who occupy some 20 percent of the Mediterranean strip, and a pull-out from four of 120 West Bank settlements.
Israel said last week it had agreed to work with the World Bank on a "strategic development programme" for Gaza, where 68 percent of the people live in poverty.
But Palestinian employment in a border industrial zone and inside Israel, a key prop of Gaza's economy, would end by 2008.
Israel's plan also makes clear that Gaza, dependent on trade with Israel and the West Bank behind, would remain encircled.
Israel would also keep military control of Gaza's southern border with Egypt, its only direct outlet to the Arab world.
"Israel will continue to monitor and supervise the outer envelope on land, have exclusive control of Gaza air space and continue military activity along its coastline," said the text approved on June 6 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet.
Businessmen like ice cream maker Ibrahim Mushtana and textile manufacturer Fayeq Bilal say the current Israeli plan gives them scant hope of financial rescue.
Mushtana doggedly keeps his factory going despite a 60 percent loss in income since violence with Israel erupted after the failure in September 2000 of talks on Palestinian statehood.
His machinery looks modern and well-maintained but he runs only one of four production lines for one or two days a week now, and says he stays afloat with bank loans.
"It can take from several hours to several days to get my finished products out to my main West Bank market," he said.
During the long, hot summer, he says he loses about 200 of the 1,800 cartons in an average truck shipment at the Karni scanning chambers.
At Karni a few km (miles away), Bilal was constantly on his mobile phone with his Israeli partner trying to determine the fate of a shipment he had submitted 12 hours before.
"Some of my shirts end up damaged due to rough security checks. It's hard to keep business partners this way," he said.
Palestinian truckers start queuing at Karni at dawn, a good four hours before it opens, to get their goods through.
Many complain of perishables spoiled by security blockages and of sudden, arbitrary closures.
Amin Shaheen had spent all day unloading 4,000 egg cartons in small portions from his truck onto a conveyor belt.
"We can't stack cargo on the belt any more for security reasons. Before 2000, this would take me 10 minutes," he said.
Some traders condemn militant attempts to strike at Israel through crossings without considering the blow to livelihoods.
They are confident this would stop if Gaza gained regular links with the world, including an airport and seaport.
"Gaza businessmen don't need or expect European Union-style openness at the borders. But they need predictability.
That means an end to this low-grade conflict. A healthy Gaza economy will be good for Israel's security," said economist Ali Badwan.
Israel sees little scope for relaxing its ring around Gaza, citing Islamist militants - powerful in the territory - who want to destroy, not co-exist with, the Jewish state.
The World Bank said Israel could significantly loosen its border trade regime without compromising security by applying faster, more efficient technology than the cumbersome, "back-to-back" offloading-reloading method now in use.
Palestinian authorities would have to do their bit, it said, by reforming security services to ensure militants are caught before they reach Israeli targets.
"(Without that), the case for dismantling closures will always be contestable ... But unless today's impasse is broken, Palestinian (order) could melt away," the bank said.
That would put off foreign donors needed urgently to help rebuild Gaza and leave no basis for steps toward regional peace.
Israeli closures and fighting with militant factions have gutted Gaza's per capita GDP by 40 percent in four years, the worst economic dive on record since the US Great Depression.
The donkey carts returning to the streets, encroaching sand dunes, creeping mounds of rubbish and infrastructure crumbling for lack of repair or torn up by Israeli tanks all make Gaza look as if it is going back in time.