A Bountiful Harvest, Rooted in a Former Settlement’s Soil

[P F Tinmore]

GAZA — Hundreds of acres of watermelons, orange saplings and grapevines stretch in orderly rows out to the horizon. Irrigation hoses run along the sand, dripping quietly. Apple trees are starting to blossom nearby. Avocados and mangoes are on their way.

But in the past couple of years, as Gaza — ruled by the Islamist group Hamas — has struggled with its isolation and economic decline, the settlement areas have been reborn.

Renamed Al Muhararat — meaning the liberated lands — they make up 30 percent of the coastal strip’s land area. The farms on part of them, which are expanding every year, provide jobs for 500 people, as well as fruits and vegetables for large segments of Gaza’s 1.6 million inhabitants.

In food shops and market stalls across Gaza today, most of the onions, melons and grapes come from here. Last month alone, 100 tons of grapes and 23,000 tons of watermelons were produced.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/world/middleeast/29gaza.html?ref=gazastrip&_r=0

 

[MHunterB]

"That was the scene several years ago but is not now. The changes in the land come as no surprise to Shlomo Wasserteil, the founder and curator of the Gush Katif Museum and a former farmer here.

He knows about the shifts because he stays in touch with his former Palestinian workers. They have told him about the synagogue-turned-mosque, the rows of produce, the drip irrigation. The farmers themselves are considered by Hamas officials to be collaborators with Israelis so the farmers are not working on the government project here. "

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

Now, we have posters being reincarnated into Israeli farmers and speaking to us here on this discussion board. lol

Sherri

 

[toastman]

Sherri, can you please come to Canada so I can spit on your disgusting ugly face ?? I'll even pay for the ticket !

 

[irosie91]

Now, we have posters being reincarnated into Israeli farmers and speaking to us here on this discussion board. lol

Sherri

who here presented himself as a "farmer" ?

Does incessant lying simply come naturally to
is-respecters or is it a developed art?

 

[toastman]

Sherri and compulsive lying go hand in hand. Right Frau Sherri ?

 

[irosie91]

Sherri, can you please come to Canada so I can spit on your disgusting ugly face ?? I'll even pay for the ticket !

toast---spit not----its not her fault----- Imagine
what it is like going thru life with an hallucination
that Jesus is speaking to you in arabic and calling
himself a "BALESTINIAN"

 

[toastman]

You're right rosie, I should feel pity for her.

 

[P F Tinmore]

It is good to see Gaza build an economy that is independent.

The economy in the West Bank is made to be dependent.

 

[MHunterB]

"It is good to see Gaza build an economy that is independent."

It certainly is! Of course, if they hadn't destroyed those lovely $14 million dollars' worth of green houses - it could have happened much much sooner. In fact, that lack alone may have been a major factor in Gaza's 'food insecurity' over the past several years.

 

[P F Tinmore]

"It is good to see Gaza build an economy that is independent."

It certainly is! Of course, if they hadn't destroyed those lovely $14 million dollars' worth of green houses - it could have happened much much sooner. In fact, that lack alone may have been a major factor in Gaza's 'food insecurity' over the past several years.

Are you still pimping that lie?