Last update - 00:00 09/10/2007
PA minister: Israel could import Gaza vegetables during 'shmita'
By Amiram Cohen, Haaretz Correspondent
Palestinian Authority Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Habash has approached his Israeli counterpart, Shalom Simchon, through a third party, requesting him to revoke Israel's embargo on importing farming produce from Gaza.
The trade embargo was enacted by the Israeli government as part of restrictive measures against the Hamas government in Gaza.
Habash's request comes to light as the High Court of Justice is preparing to review Wednesday five petitions against the ban on the sale of fruit and vegetables during the year that Jewish tradition stipulates land in Israel should remain fallow. Habash said that Gaza farmers signed agreements with Israeli tradesmen to supply thousands of tons of vegetables during the current sabbatical.
The Agriculture Ministry said that Simchon may meet with Habash in the next few days to discuss his request. Earlier this week, Simchon announced he did not intend to change the ministerial directives preventing imports of agricultural produce.
During the shmita year, Jews may eat fruit and vegetables from Israel only if they were grown on land owned by non-Jews, according to religious Jewish law.
For decades, the Chief Rabbinate and the local rabbinates of most major cities have allowed farmers to symbolically sell their land to a non-Jew for the fallow year on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, then buy it back at the year's end. This means that produce farmed during the year is kosher and may be sold to Jews.
This year, however, ultra-Orthodox rabbinates which traditionally turned a blind eye to this practice began revoking the kosher certification of farmers who took advantage of the religious law loophole.
Simchon fiercely criticized ultra-Orthodox
Simchon met with National Religious Party leaders earlier this week, and launched an attack on the ultra-Orthodox establishment, saying they had "declared a cultural war on Israel" and "attempted to yield profit on the back of ordinary citizens."
Simchon urged the NRP to join his initiative to amend the Chief Rabbinate law to enable nonaligned rabbis to grant Kashrut permits to agricultural produce which had been disqualified by ultra-Orthodox rabbis.
Simchon said that the problem goes beyond the substantial losses to the industry (NIS 2 billion, according to the Agriculture Ministry figures) and the steep rise in retail prices.
The NRP leaders told Simchon that they would back his efforts to forestall outstanding imports as long as the Chief Rabbinate refuses to grant Kashrut certificates to businesses and institutions that buy local agricultural produce from farmers who had obtained a special permit.
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Benjamin Lau: Observing shmita sensibly
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