SAUDI ARABIA: A giant Saudi flag has been painted on a hillside overlooking the entrance to the south-western city of Abha

Record ID: 279994

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA: A giant Saudi flag has been painted on a hillside overlooking the entrance to the south-western city of Abha
  • Date: 17th February 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMAD MA'AMA, ABHA RESIDENT, SAYING: ''This caught my attention from around five kilometres away, this paint, so I came here to see what this work is, because really it's something strange, but a good thing at the same time.''
  • Embargoed: 4th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA50R99YGR5WTLTXCOM3WSTSKOW
  • Story Text: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) trucks began ferrying almost 12,000 tonnes of apples across the Syrian-Israeli frontier, a 70-km (44 mile) stretch of road, on Tuesday (February 15) in an ICRC and United Nations-supervised operation designed to help Syrian farmers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights market their produce.
    The ICRC spokesperson in the Golan Heights, Nadia Dibsy, said the transfer of apples produced by local Syrian Druze farmers would take approximately ten weeks to complete.
    "Today, the International Committee of the Red Cross is transferring 12000 tonnes of apples from Golan to Syria. There are trucks from the Red Cross, driven by three people from our office in Kenya. The apples will take around 10 weeks to transfer,'' said Dibsy as trucks were being loaded with the apples destined for Syria.
    Such transfers began in 2005 because restrictions placed by Israel on produce from the Golan, which it occupied in 1967, meant many apples were going to rot unless Syria bought them.
    Thousands of Syrians live in five villages and towns in the Israeli-occupied Golan, an area famous for grapes, cherries and apples.
    One of the farmers benefiting from the export of his produce is Said Farhat.
    "It's very important to us because it helps the farmers here to protect their land, trees and their belongings and their feelings for Syria," said Farhat who distributed apples to UN workers and ICRC workers.
    The ICRC is acting as a neutral intermediary at the request of farmers in the Golan Heights and with the approval of both Syrian and Israeli authorities. The process is among humanitarian activities carried out by the ICRC in the Golan since 1967, which include facilitating the travel of certain categories of people like students and pilgrims.
    "The International Committee of the Red Cross is a neutral mediator that works on a humanitarian basis. We consider this a part of our the international committee's job in order to minimize the effects of the occupation on the Syrian farmers in the occupied Golan," said ICRC delegate, Saleh Dabbakeh, in Qunaitera on the Syrian side of the crossing point.
    The first day of the process started with three trucks of apples crossing to the Syrian side.
    Apple cultivation is considered one of the main aspects maintaining the economy for Golani farmers who largely live off of fruit cultivation.
    "The apple production in the occupied part of Golan is around 45,000 tonnes a year. The Zionist occupation forces doesn't allow these quantities to be sold in the markets of the West Bank or Gaza Strip, so the home country must take these apples. The apples of Majdal Shams and the neighbouring villages and sell them in the home land," said Jamal Akkach, director of agriculture in Quneitra governorate.
    This is the sixth time such a process took place, the first being in 2005 when 4,000 tonnes of apples crossed the border. The transfer did not take place in 2008 due to a poor harvest.
    Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East War and Syria wants it back as a condition to establish peace with Israel, something Israel has so far refused to do.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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