This paper covers the following four keyissues: (i) Palestinian trade against the background ofglobal trade expansion; (ii) trade logistics and performanceusing Egyptian gateways; (iii) establishing the borderterminal operations and transit protocols; and (iv)conclusions and next steps. The study point out that thesuccess of the Rafah corridor is dependent on establishingpractices and procedures which, while sensitive tolegitimate security and economic concerns and minimizingrisks, are appropriate and focused on facilitating efficientand reliable trade. It suggests that the development of theRafah corridor take a phased approach beginning withspecially arranged demonstration shipments to jump startoperations and then expanding these activities as systemsand procedures are instituted and improved. The reportbelieves that using Rafah as a trade corridor to ship goodsfrom Gaza to Egypt's efficient and privately managedcontainer terminal at the entrance to the Suez Canal and toCairo International Airport can provide competitive tradelogistics in terms of performance and at a cost generallyequivalent to or less than Israel's ports and airports.