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del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 02:51 18/12/2007 Gazans: IDF restrictions deny us of animals for holiday sacrifice By The Associated Press Tags: Palestinians, Islam, Israel  Israel's closure of its border with the Gaza Strip has caused a shortage of livestock for sacrifice at the annual Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday beginning Wednesday, according to merchants in the coastal territory. Ibrahim al-Kedra, a senior agriculture ministry official in Gaza said the average demand for the feast among Gaza's overwhelmingly Muslim population of 1.5 million is around 10,000 cows and 50,000 goats. Advertisement At the Eid, Muslims slaughter sheep, goats, cows or camels, sharing the meat with friends and family and donating one third to the poor. Al-Kedra said around 7,700 cows were allowed through by Israel in November and around 1,600 more were set for shipping Monday, but no goats or sheep were permitted, apart from 30 goats and 30 camels donated by Israeli Muslims for the Gaza poor. Israeli military officials had no comment Monday. After the militant Islamic Hamas seized control of the strip in June, Israel imposed stringent restrictions on its crossings, restricting the passage of goods and people to essential humanitarian cases. Gaza meat company owner Salah Affana said most of the cows shipped into Gaza were under two years old, which according to Islamic tradition is the minimum age for them to be sacrificed. Affana said the shortage could mean that the needy, for whom the Eid is a rare chance to eat meat, might have to go without this year. Many poor families are waiting to get meat on the Eid, he said. We hope that we can get the animals on time so we can bring the smile to the faces of the poor children. Even for the relatively better-off, the shortage is pushing prices beyond many pockets, with a 600-kilogram (1,300- pound) cow selling in the Gaza cattle market for about 9,000 shekels ($2,250) compared to 7,200 shekels ($1,800) a year ago. "I am lucky, I found a cow over two years old, but it's very expensive this year," businessman Sami Abdel Jawwad, 44, said. "I will share the cow with my brothers , each one will pay 2,000 shekels ($500)." Adel Charif, a 33-year-old driver, was less fortunate. "This year is a very bad year for me, I have no money to buy animals or to share in one," he said. "I used to buy a goat for 1,000 shekels ($250, 175) but this year it is 1,800 shekels ($450) ... I will pray to God to forgive me because I will not able to sacrifice this year, and I will pray for revenge against the (Israelis), who imposed the blockade and make it impossible for us to celebrate our Eid." The festival commemorates the biblical story of Abraham and his readiness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God, who provided a lamb to be used instead Bookmark to del.icio.us Organic memory Israeli research is among '50 most significant scientific breakthroughs in 2007.' Floating the PA International donors pledged $7.4 billion to help boost the PA economy .   1.   What Hamas actually is saying is 03:30  |  * BEN JABO 18/12/07   2.   Another thought 03:32  |  * BEN JABO 18/12/07   3.   Warped piety - Israeli lives far LESS important than animals 04:38  |  CK Tan 18/12/07   4.   What Happened to the Farms Israel Left Behind in Gaza? 04:54  |  Straight Talk 18/12/07   5.   Who needs animals when you have Shaheeds? 05:41  |  Ron Jones 18/12/07   6.   Animals for sacrifice? 05:57  |  Barney Panofsky 18/12/07   7.   uh oh 06:01  |  vik 18/12/07   8.   sacrifices 06:06  |  Barney Panofsky 18/12/07   9.   Warped piety - Israeli lives far LESS important than animals 06:15  |  CK Tan 18/12/07   10.   slaughter each other 06:33  |  real vision 18/12/07   11.   guess they should have thought of this also before hand. another 06:41  |  ralph 18/12/07   12.   Who needs to eat good animals? 06:42  |  GPS 18/12/07   13.   oh my something else they didn`t think about. kind of dumb no 06:42  |  ralph 18/12/07   14.   How many goats and sheep could have been farmed 06:59  |  Beeeeeeeeeeeeh 18/12/07   15.   Let Jews sacrifice 07:31  |  Fred 18/12/07   16.   moslemenlightenment!!! 08:02  |  Mark Katzman 18/12/07   17.   Religious rite from the dark ages, disgusting! 08:37  |  Benjamina 18/12/07   18.   Poor Gaza Muslims 09:11  |  Alex 18/12/07   19.   To Alex (Poor Gaza Muslims) 09:36  |  Gazzawi 18/12/07   20.   Gazzawi and his pity party 09:58  |  PR 18/12/07   21.   Perfect Solution! 10:06  |  Neil 18/12/07   22.   May I point out... 10:18  |  CS 18/12/07   23.   re Gazzawi 10:21  |  Matthew 18/12/07   24.   alice in wonderland 10:45  |  scanadu 18/12/07   25.   Throw a virgin into the volcano instead 12:15  |  Steve 18/12/07   26.   At least US and EU got $7.4Billion to sacrifice! 12:30  |  Alan 18/12/07   27.   Hypocrites 12:50  |  Jax 18/12/07   28.   let them raise their own animals - improve their own economy 12:59  |  Michelle 18/12/07   29.   Are the "starving" Gazans sacrificing 60 000 animals every year 13:38  |  Alicia 18/12/07   30.   Here`s the deal!!! 14:19  |  Meir 18/12/07   31.   What a surprise! 16:02  |  Nik "Banned" Miller 18/12/07   32.   #25 Steve - Progressville 17:16  |  * BEN JABO 18/12/07   33.   #29 Alicia - It`s quite normal to sacrafice 06:47  |  * BEN JABO 19/12/07

Today Online IDF strikes kill at least 11 Islamic Jihad, Hamas militants Responses: 485 Bradley Burston: Killing the Palestinian who wishes you dead Responses: 126 Rosner's guest: The PA's goal is the destruction of Israel Responses: 131 Yoel Marcus: Israel doesn't need a new Vietnam called Gaza Responses: 137 Officials: Israel to allow construction in W. Bank settlements Responses: 177 Rosner's Domain Huckabee can 'live with a contained Iran' (What to Read) Rabin's long memory and the U.S. NIE report on Iran Guest: Leader of the Zionist Organization of America on post-Annapolis Mideast Without the Reform movement in Israel, there's no Reform movement More Headlines 07:32 Min. pushes new E. J'lem neighborhood for Jews 07:24 Mortar strikes near IDF base in Zikim; six soldiers suffer shock 07:53 ANALYSIS: Israel strikes hard in Gaza, trying to avoid an invasion 08:02 Argentina: Iran responsible for 1990s bombings at Jewish sites 08:05 Canadian Jewish tycoon Alex Shnaider buys Maccabi Tel Aviv 06:55 PMO establishes task force dedicated to preparing for Bush's visit 03:24 Two Haaretz writers win Sokolow Prize for Journalism 01:09 Israel expects over 60,000 pilgrims to come for Christmas 05:32 Israel, Russia reach agreement eliminating visa requirement 02:13 Treasure-hunting sisters find human remains from Roman era Previous Editions Select Day 18 dec 17 dec 16 dec 14 dec 13 dec 12 dec 11 dec 10 dec 09 dec 07 dec 06 dec 05 dec

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