Photo Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash 90
Gaza tomato farmers are working their fields to gather in a burgeoning harvest this year for export to Israel.
The vegetables are trucked into the Jewish State via the land crossing with Gaza, where local merchants import their own goods on a daily or weekly basis.
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It is not unusual for Israeli consumers to be unaware of where their produce comes from, and few know that some of their finest vegetables — in particular, their tomatoes — may in fact come from Gaza.
The arrangement was agreed upon years ago between the IDF Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Palestinian Authority and local farmers and business owners as a way to increase healthy cooperation between Israel and residents in the enclave.
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I would be scared to consume products from Gaza
Why allow the produce to enter as long as missiles keep flying over head and terror tunnels are being built on an ongoing basis. Let them stew in Gaza since it was the Palestinians who voted in Hamas, a known terror group.
Burn their crops!
Maybe my halachic rendering is wrong, but I don’t think that we have permission from on high to burn the crops of the enemy. It’s a big sin, according to what I understand.
Doing commerce with them is a good thing. And it’s part of the history of that region. The Philistines (Pelishtim) used to occupy the Gaza region and we read that in the early days of King Saul and then King David that the Jewish armies had to buy their swords from the Pelishtim because they had the skills of good iron smithing and sword manufacturing. So, we see there is Scriptural precedent.
Doing commerce with the Gazans gives Israel an opportunity to create good will among at least some of them in their population.
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