In Gaza, farmers await sweet harvest

Money on the vine: workers harvest cherry tomatoes at Netzarim, where a portrait of the late Yasser Arafat signals Palestinian control of the former Jewish settlement.
Photo: The New York Times

By Greg Myre Gadid, Gaza Strip
November 29, 2005

AMID the rubble of the former Jewish settlements, Palestinians have sown the first seeds of a modest economic revival.

Less than three months after the Israelis departed, Palestinians have repaired scores of greenhouses left by the settlers and planted a crop, and they are preparing to harvest an estimated $20 million worth of strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers and herbs and spices.

The produce is intended mostly for export to Europe, but some will also be headed to Israel, Arab countries and the United States.

After overcoming numerous obstacles, the Palestinians said their main worry now was the Karni border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, critical to moving the produce to the markets.

After intense negotiations this month, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brokered an agreement on the Gaza crossings that says Palestinian agricultural exports are to pass through Karni "on an urgent basis". But the Palestinians say they are still worried about possible delays at the crossing.

Still, the harvest, which begins in about 10 days, will be the first tangible measure of development in Gaza, which has been in an economic free-fall for most of the past five years.

"I think we have made this a success in a very short period," said Bassil Jabir, director of the Palestine Economic Development Co, a government group that works with the private sector and is overseeing greenhouse rehabilitation.

"We are employing thousands of people in these greenhouses," Mr Jabir said in the former settlement of Gadid, in the south-west corner of Gaza, as he visited the flourishing greenhouses. "We kept the growing cycle intact. We have pumped a lot of money into the Gaza economy."

The Israeli military demolished settlers' homes before leaving in September, and piles of concrete rubble remain. Some greenhouses were looted by Palestinians in the chaotic days after the withdrawal. But today they are buzzing with the sounds of saws and hammers.

Karni is the crossing for goods going in and out of Gaza, which has no seaport or working airport. During the violence of the past five years, Israel has insisted on stringent checks for weapons, and Palestinian militants have staged deadly attacks at Karni. But the lengthy Israeli searches have caused frequent delays, at times spoiling produce before it reached its destination.

Strawberries, for example, are the Palestinians' most valuable export, but they should be refrigerated until they reach the market. A few hours in the heat and dust at Karni can ruin them.

Once the produce clears Karni, it will be handed over to the same Israeli export companies that the Gaza settlers used. "We are new to this business, and I don't want to disrupt the system that has been in place for 30 years," Mr Jabir said. "I also believe that a divorce of the Israeli and Palestinian economies wouldn't be good for either side."

Israel says it too has an incentive in seeing Gaza's economy prosper. "We understand that a successful Gaza economy is a crucial ingredient in the overall success of what is now Palestinian Gaza," said Mark Regev, a Foreign Ministry spokesman. "And the success of Gaza is a crucial factor in getting the peace process back on track."

NEW YORK TIMES