PA minister: Israel could import Gaza vegetables during 'shmita' - Haaretz

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Last update - 15:31 09/10/2007

PA minister: Israel could import Gaza vegetables during 'shmita'

By Amiram Cohen, Haaretz Correspondent

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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.

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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.

Related articles:
Knesset panel threatens to found separate kashrut authority
Sephardic, Ashkenazi rabbis at odds over 'shmita' ban bypass
Benjamin Lau: Observing shmita sensibly

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1.	Yes we have bannanas	15:52	\|	SJ	09/10/07

2.	#1 SJ	16:10	\|	* BEN JABO	09/10/07

3.	Supporting Hamas	16:17	\|	Zvi Swerdlove	09/10/07

4.	Shmitta	16:19	\|	Jacob	09/10/07

5.	we get kassams and mortars every day thank you!	16:20	\|	redmike	09/10/07

6.	Palestinian greenhouses in Gaza--oh, I forgot	16:22	\|	bob	09/10/07

7.	To #1	16:25	\|	Isaac Brooks	09/10/07

8.	dumb	16:55	\|	ken	09/10/07

9.	another way of supporting--	17:03	\|	matilda	09/10/07

10.	reply to # 7 yes but it costs us more	17:14	\|	SJ	09/10/07

11.	This "third party",is it Ms.Rice? "Requesting" looks like her	17:20	\|	Absolute Sweden	09/10/07

12.	Gazan fresh produce	17:40	\|	leven5	09/10/07

13.	Either it`s shmita or it`s not	18:12	\|	Reform Jew	09/10/07

14.	Gaza is part of biblical Israel so its also subject to shmita law	18:20	\|	zionist forever	09/10/07

15.	Olmert, Rice, Israels left today they are poodles of Abbas	18:31	\|	zionist forever	09/10/07

16.	LET THEM EAT CAKE!!!	18:50	\|	Fed Up	09/10/07

17.	We Will NOT Buy Your Produce	19:10	\|	Yishai Kohen	09/10/07

18.	to Isaac Brooks, it is a blackmail.	19:12	\|	Puhi	09/10/07

19.	Money Money Money	19:28	\|	Ari	09/10/07

20.	To #12	19:35	\|	Ari	09/10/07

21.	WILL THEY BE DELIVERED BY ROCKET ?	20:51	\|	A Bsurd	09/10/07

22.	Shemita	20:58	\|	Habib	09/10/07

23.	deduct the cost of shmita from the yeshiva stipends	22:13	\|	rehovot	09/10/07

24.	Gaza people DONT HAVE to sell to israel	23:25	\|	Gisele	09/10/07

25.	#17 Yishai Cohen	23:31	\|	Labhras	09/10/07

26.	importation	23:32	\|	Shmuelshachor	09/10/07

27.	Black holes !	23:51	\|	Einstein	09/10/07

28.	Olmert must be a very religious Jew	00:04	\|	Chick	10/10/07

29.	Veggies sent to Israel with love?	00:33	\|	Clarence Darrow	10/10/07

30.	Leftist hypocrisy	01:41	\|	Binyamin Dissen	10/10/07

31.	Hamas Terrorists: You can fund us during Shmita	01:54	\|	Jon	10/10/07

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