- Title: ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/EXPORTS Gaza farmers hopeful as exports to Israel resume
- Date: 12th March 2015
- Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (MARCH 11, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FARMER PICKING TOMATOES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FARMER, ISMAIL ABU KASIM, SAYING: "For about eight years we did not export, and we hope after exporting these vegetables the market will be better and the farmer will be able to continue producing and farming." FARMERS PACKING TOMATOES EGGPLANT FARM VARIOUS OF FARMER PICKING
- Embargoed: 27th March 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Gaza
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3YEY1FMNUFAN4CTLGTMTK9VKO
- Story Text: Israel imported its first fruit and vegetables from the Gaza Strip in almost eight years on Thursday (March 12), in a partial easing of an economic blockade maintained since the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the Palestinian territory.
Twenty-seven tonnes of tomatoes and five tonnes of eggplants were trucked across the border, under an Israeli plan to bring in around 1,200 tonnes of produce a month.
The Palestinians welcomed the move, though the scale fell short of the some 3,300 tonnes they said they had previously exported to Israel monthly.
"For about eight years we did not export, and we hope after exporting these vegetables the market will be better and the farmer will be able to continue producing and farming," said Gazan farmer Ismail Abu Kasim.
"I currently have 10 dunums (1 hectare) of land under cultivation, may be seven to eight dunums, but if export picks up I think I'll expand to 20-30 dunums (2-3 hectares) since I have the resources to do so," added another farmer Husien Al-Falit.
Israel has faced international calls to ease the blockade since a war with Hamas last year, the second in six years, that caused heavy devastation in Gaza and left more than 100,000 of its 1.8 million people homeless.
It had already begun to allow vegetables from Gaza as well as Palestinian merchants to transit across Israel to the occupied West Bank, and to allow Gaza's farmers to bring tractors in via Israel.
Marketing and crossing director in the Gaza ministry of agriculture, Tahseen Al-Saqqa, said partial resumption of trade with Israel was a good start.
"Before 2007 we used to export huge quantities of all kinds of vegetables to the Israeli market, around 40,000 tonnes. We hope to go back to those levels. If we start with 5,000-10,000 tonnes now, that would be good for our agricultural sector," said Tahseen Al-Saqqa.
But a businessman from Gaza, Abed El-Raouf Abu Safar, said current export levels were too low.
"The plan is to export 250 tonnes of tomatoes and 50 tonnes of eggplants to Israel per month, and that is not enough," Abed El-Raouf Abu Safar said.
Israel says its blockade is intended to restrict goods that could be used in weapons production and underground tunnels. But the embargo has added to hardship in the dilapidated, arid territory, where more than half the population receive U.N. food aid.
It said its purchases of fruit and vegetables from Gaza were meant to help the Palestinian economy and make up for a shortfall in Israeli produce caused by a Jewish biblical fallow year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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