For florists, chocolatiers, and restaurant owners, Valentine's Day is a green holiday. Behind the red hearts and resplendent bouquets are millions of dollars in sales. Even with a slumping economy, retailers are hoping that lovestruck couples will still open their pocketbooks to please their significant others.
The holiday is playing out in international politics as well. In an apparent goodwill gesture, the Israeli government confirmed this week that it would ease its blockade of the Gaza strip to allow Valentine's Day exports. Israel will allow some 25,000 flowers to be exported from the Palestinian territory to Europe, the first crack in a blockade that began in more than a year ago. Since Hamas took control of the Gaza strip in June 2007, Isreal has prevented the coastal region from participating in global trade. The blockade is widely seen as one of the main reasons for Palestinian smuggling tunnels that were the subject of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. The flower export agreement marks the first time in a year that Palestinian goods will be able to enter the world market.
According to most analysts, however, the current reprieve is simply cosmetic. Mohammed Khalil, head of the Gaza flower growers' association, noted that the territory used to export 40 million flowers each year. By comparison, a mere 25,000 flowers are economically insignificant. What is more, many of the commercial flowers in Gaza have been destroyed (literally fed to animals) because they could not reach European markets. While Palestinians do not celebrate Valentine's Day, local producers had previously benefited from Western demand for flowers and heart-shaped chocolates.
Cut flowers and strawberries were some of the Gaza Strip's main exports before the blockade began, bringing a valuable source of income to the 1.5 million inhabitants of the coastal territory. Israel announced that the Valentine's Day measure did not indicate a shift in their overall trade policity toward Gaza. In short, the blockade will continue and border crossings will remain closed during the current political impasse.
Israel's election results are now official, but it remains unclear as to who will form a ruling coalition. Kadima's Tzipi Livni received the most seats in Tuesday's vote with 28 seats. But a hawkish bloc headed by Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, and including the new number three party, Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu, controls 65 seats of the 120-member Knesset, giving Mr Netanyahu the edge in coalition building. Israeli President Shimon Peres must now decide which leader can most effectively pull the country's factions together.
The decision will undoubtedly have an impact on the volatile Arab-Israeli peace process. At this point, it seems unlikely that the two sides are exchanging any Valentine's Day gifts.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment