Fine Strawberries, Ripened to Rot?!

Source: Agencies, 28-03-2008
Just 300 yards from the hidden eyes in the 'Israeli' tank, Ahmed Felfel picks his strawberries. But it isn't the 'Israelis' in the tank who worry him as much as those others who will not let him sell them.
Earlier, it was flowers grown in Gaza and then fed to camels because the 'Israeli' blockade would not let them through. Now it is strawberries grown and wasted.
It is Gaza's irony that the most desperate conditions produce some of the finest people seek. Nature itself has been kind to Gaza; the soil is rich, there is plenty of sunshine, and predictable rainfall. All this produces strawberries of a quality that the best restaurants in Europe like to serve.
After Gaza elected Hamas, 'Israel' moved swiftly with U.S. backing to isolate the 23-mile long strip of land with 'Israel' on one side and the Mediterranean on the other. It's a siege that will not let even flowers and strawberries through.
Ahmed Felfel says he is expecting losses of 35,000 to 45,000 dollars as a result of the 'Israeli' blockade. That is above more direct losses. "'Israeli' tanks and bulldozers demolished my irrigation system, my greenhouses, my equipment."