Israel lets few Gaza flowers out for Valentines

Israel gave Palestinian flower growers in the Gaza Strip their first break from its crippling blockade Thursday when it allowed 25,000 carnations grown by farmers to be shipped into Israel for export to the Dutch market ahead of Valentine's Day this weekend.

A request for Valentine flowers from the Netherlands prompted Israel to ease the blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007 to allow Palestinian farmers to sell their flowers to Israeli companies, which then export them to Europe.

For the first time in a year, a truck load of 25,000 flowers passed through the Karam Abu Salem crossing into Israel where it will be taken to Israel’s Lid Airport for security check, Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner told AlArabiya.net.

Goodwill gesture or publicity stunt

"This is a goodwill gesture from the Israeli government to the people of Gaza. The flowers are scheduled to arrive in Europe by Valentine's Day," said Lerner.

But with losses in flower sales already at $4 million because of the war, profits are unlikely to pick up anytime soon, according to industry experts.

"The losses are huge. And I doubt that any farmer will be able to profit in the near future because of the blockade and the merciless war," Mahmud Khalil, director of Palestinian Agricultural Organization of Produce and Flowers, told AlArabiya.net.

He called Israel's "goodwill gesture" a publicity stunt to improve its global image, with no real benefit going to Palestinian farmers.

"The Palestinian farmer in Gaza has lost hope in any future. Israel makes any exportation difficult by consistently closing the borders and only opening them after the season has ended," he explained.

The losses are huge. And I doubt that any farmer will be able to profit in the near future because of the blockade and the merciless war

Mahmud Khalil

No love lost among farmers

Growing carnations for Valentine has been a love's labor lost for Palestinian farmers in Gaza thanks to Israel's export restrictions.

The blockade and restrictions prevented Palestinian farmers from shipping their stock to Europe for Valentine's Day in recent years, causing huge losses as exporters ended up either dumping truckloads of flowers or feeding them to their sheep.

"Today is the first day in three years that we are finally able to export flowers to Europe," Salem Abu Zayd (not his real name), one of the 48 Palestinian flower farmers in Gaza told AlArabiya.net.

"Our losses multiply every year because of Israeli export restrictions and the slow coordination on the part of the IDF," he added.

Abu Zayd said farmers have lost most of their flowers because of Israel’s 22-day aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza . He does not expect much profit this year because of the poor quality of the flowers due to the blockade.

"We were supposed to ship to Europe on Dec. 26 for the New Year but then the war started and we ended up losing 70 percent of our product. Now we are shipping poorly kept flowers to Europe," he explained.

Our losses multiply every year because of Israeli export restrictions and the slow coordination on the part of the IDF

Salem Abu Zayd

The flower export season starts in November and runs through April. But Khalil and Abu Zayd say that the January and February are the most profitable .

"And we have missed the New Year thanks to the war and now we are sending very poor flowers for Valentine only a few days before the holiday," Abu Zayd said.

"During the war we fed many of our flowers to our sheep because we did not know what else to do," he lamented.

Call for boycott

In its latest bid to boycott Israeli corporations profiting from the Palestinian Occupied Territories, a group of 15 women locked themselves to the gates of Carmel Agrexco, Europe’s main distribution company importing flowers from Gaza and the West Bank, London depot Thursday.

"It is an intolerable situation for Palestinian farmers because they have no option but to sell their products to Israeli companies due to the siege. We are not calling for a boycott on Palestinian goods but on companies like Carmel that profit from the occupation"

"Carmel Agrexco is 50 percent owned by Israeli government and 25 percent is owned by cooperative of Israeli settlers called Tnuva," said Hayes, noting the company imports flower from illegally occupied areas where Palestinians regularly have their trade routes shut off by the Israeli army.

“We are asking the British public not to buy bloodstained flowers for their loved ones this year. Following the murder of more than 1,300 people and the maiming of nearly 6,000, the majority women and children, in Gaza, it is vital that we hold up Carmel Agrexco to public scrutiny," Hayes added.

Israeli spokesman Lerner noted that the flowers sent to Holland are sold with the label "Product of Gaza Strip" and sold at current market prices.

"The European exchange market has a long working relationships with Palestinian farmers, who have shares in the market and receive their profit after [the quality of their flowers is assessed]" said Lerner.

It is an intolerable situation for Palestinian farmers because they have no option but to sell their products to Israeli companies due to the siege. We are not calling for a boycott on Palestinian goods but on companies like Carmel that profit from the occupation

Tom Hayes