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Sunday, March 23, 2008

Apple detente

Palestine Today mentioned that on Sunday, Israel allowed the export of 700 tons of apples grown by Golani Druze - to Syria.

A little further research brought a fascinating recent Ya Libnan (Lebanon) article that says that the annual trade in apples between Israel and Syria is much higher than that:
The economic position of Golan Druse is far better than that of their coreligionists and relations in neighboring Syrian-controlled villages. Druse horticulturalists have been permitted to export 11,000 tons of apples to Syria per annum since 2005 - the only existing economic relationship between the two countries.
The entire Ya Libnan article is worth reading as it goes into the complexity of the issues facing the mostly Druze residents of the Golan who have divided loyalties between Syria and Israel.

But the apple trade was news to me.