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[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Een zending van 25.000 anjers met een waarde van ong. €20.000 verliet Gaza
gisteren via het Ben-Gurion vliegveld in Israel.
Nu die andere 59.975.000 nog. En dan liefst via de onklaar gemaakte
vliegvelden in Gaza, of de vernietigde haven (die Wim Kok nog geopend
heeft?).

Hoe gaat de betaling voor deze zending eigenlijk? Via een Israelische bank
of via Israelische handen?

Hoeveel Europese subsidie wordt hier aan besteed? En via welke handen gaat
deze subsidie?

Groet / Cees

PS Een pufda-congres volgende week? Rode anjers ... ;)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/world/middleeast/13gaza.html?

February 13, 2009
Israel Opens the Gaza Border for 25,000 Carnations, Bound for Europe
By ISABEL KERSHNER

JERUSALEM — Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Israel allowed the export of
a shipment of flowers from Hamas-run Gaza on Thursday for the first time
in about a year, Israeli officials said.

The flowers, destined for Europe, are hardly a token of affection between
Israel and the Islamic rulers of the Palestinian enclave, but they could
portend a possible thaw in commercial relations in the context of a
cease-fire.

The shipment of 25,000 carnations passed through the Kerem Shalom cargo
terminal on the Israel-Gaza border at the Dutch government’s request,
according to Maj. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli Defense
Ministry agency that handles Palestinian civilian affairs. They are
scheduled to be flown from Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday.

Gaza does not have a functioning airport or seaport, and it has no
commercial crossing on its border with Egypt, so all exports have to pass
through Israel.

When asked about the potential for additional exports, Major Lerner said,
“There are no further activities scheduled, but we will be reviewing the
situation from time to time.”

“Basically it is a Palestinian decision — whether they want to send
flowers or rockets,” he said.

The gesture came less than a month after Israel ended its 22-day military
offensive against Hamas in Gaza, which Israeli officials said was
primarily intended to stop the firing of rockets into Israel. There has
been a trickle of rocket and mortar fire since both sides began separate
cease-fires on Jan. 18. Egypt is trying to broker broader understandings
for a mutual cease-fire.

The main demand by Hamas is for an opening of the Gaza border crossings
and the lifting of the embargo that Israel has imposed on the area since
the Hamas takeover in June 2007. The blockade has crushed Gaza’s economy.

Israel permits a flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and recently increased
the amount of goods going in to up to 200 truckloads a day. But almost no
exports have been allowed.

In November 2007, Israel announced that it would allow the export of some
agricultural produce from Gaza, mainly flowers and strawberries destined
for Europe. That move was part of an effort to create a positive
atmosphere leading up to the American-sponsored peace gathering at
Annapolis, Md., later that month.

The exports were cut short in 2008 by repeated attacks by Palestinian
militants on the border crossings. Major Lerner said the last shipment of
flowers was before Valentine’s Day last year.

Gaza used to export about 60 million flowers a year.

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