GAZA: It is strawberry season in Gaza, but Israel's closure of the Karni goods crossing means cash strapped growers cannot export their produce

Gaza's strawberry farmers are facing great difficulties with selling their harvest this year. It is not an absence of crop, rather the inability to export it that has resulted in many farmers struggling to make ends meet. Israeli trade restrictions have left farmers with large quantities of strawberry crop confined within Gaza's borders. Despite a great harvest this year, Gaza's strawberry farmers are struggling to make ends meet as they are unable to find a market for their crop. Israeli restrictions have meant that farmers are now unable to export their strawberries outside of the Gaza Strip, something which they have always relied on in the past. Many farmers say they now find themselves in dire straits and are now forced to sell their strawberries below their market value. Most of strawberry grower Qassem Qassem's fields remain unharvested and he fears that his strawberries will remain in the ground and rot before they can be sold. Selling them locally and not exporting at least some of them means that his efforts to cultivate them are not economically viable. "We plant strawberries and we export them abroad. This year we couldn't. Look and see the strawberries, they are red and ripe. We sell them for a cheap price now. We have a huge amount of strawberries, here in Gaza we sell them for shekels (rather than exporting them for foreign currency) and the shekel is not worth much here in Gaza. But it costs us a lot more to grow them," said Qassem, who owns a strawberry field in Beit Lahiya. Gaza's main commercial Karni crossing is frequently closed by the Israeli authorities, something which has crippled Gaza's economy. Israel says closures at Gaza's crossings are prompted by threats of attack by Palestinian militants. However, the closures to the crossing are not the only reason investment has dried up in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, undermining efforts to build an economy and create jobs. The rise to power of Hamas in 2005 prompted Western countries to impose a crippling aid embargo on the government over the Islamist movement's refusal to recognise Israel. Hamas has struggled to govern since taking office under the weight of U.S.-backed sanctions imposed over its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals with the Jewish state. A unity government deal was eventually signed in February by Abbas and the Hamas movement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and contains a vague promise to "respect" Israeli-Palestinian pacts. The embargo, which has further strained the cash-strapped economy in Gaza, is forcing people into increasingly desperate measures to survive. "We hope that the new government will find a solution. We sold our houses and our wives' gold in order to survive and eat. The internal fighting (between Palestinian factions) has damaged us. We hope to God that they will come to an agreement. Why is it our fault? We are farmers and workers, and the workers can't find food to eat.," said Qassem. According to World Bank figures, about 70 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live under the poverty line.

ITN Source | March 2, 2007

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