Tariq Kenney-Shawa is a U.S. policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank and policy network.
that dealt the final blow to the industry. Today, orange and lemon trees no longer dot the countryside. An industry that could have served as a bedrock for Gaza’s economic development lies in tatters.Israel’s campaign to sour Gaza’s citrus trade became a template for the decimation of countless other exports. In 2021, Israeli authorities required farmers in Gaza tofrom their tomatoes before passing them through Israeli checkpoints to be sold in the West Bank.
Palestinian farmers in Gaza did their part. They played by the rules, cultivating their crops in the face of Israeli land encroachment and arbitrary export restrictions. They evensuch as strawberries and tomatoes, which don’t grow on trees and thus could not be accused of providing cover for resistance fighters. Palestinians tried to make something out of the conditions under which Israel forced them to live, only to be obstructed by their occupiers at every turn.