Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Israel prepares for 'fallow' new year

Israel prepares for 'fallow' new year  
By Martin Asser 
BBC News, Jerusalem  
In a place where who owns the land can literally be a life or death issue,
a remarkable thing happens this week. 
 
Israeli farmers worked hard to get the harvest in before the shmita 
Thousands of Israeli farmers willingly sign their land over to rabbis, who
then sell it to Palestinian Arabs for just a handful of shekels. 
It is not some massive u-turn by the Zionist movement, but rather a
convenient fiction to get around an inconvenient aspect of Jewish holy law
known as the "shmita". 
Wednesday evening sees Israel celebrate the start of the Jewish new year.
This year, though, is a shmita year, or sabbatical year, one year in seven
when Jewish-owned land in the Land of Israel must be left fallow. 
Before that time, Jewish farmers agree symbolic year-long sales of their
land to non-Jews, if they want to continue growing crops and selling
kosher produce to the Israeli market and for export. 
But not everyone is happy with the temporary sales and Israel's growing
ultra-Orthodox community are pushing hard for much stricter implementation
of the shmita law. 
Loopholes 
Hundreds of metres below sea level in the Jordan valley, territories
occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, lie some of Israel's most productive
fruit and vegetable growing areas. 
In the Jewish settlement of Tomer, north of Jericho, Danny Maimoun has
built a $2.5m (£1.25m) operation selling sweet peppers and spring onions. 
 
 It would be very nice to rest for one year but it is not possible for us 
Danny Maimoun 
After 30 years in the business, for him the seven-yearly shmita is a bit
of joke. 
"Every seven years we 'sell' our land for one year to the rabbis," he
says. 
"Afterwards they 'sell' all the land that they supposedly bought from us
to non-Jews, maybe to Arabs, for one shekel. 
"It would be very nice to rest for one year but it is not possible for
us," he says with a smile. "Eighty percent of my business is export to the
UK and Europe and we could lose our clients." 
Israeli farms tend to be either secular or religious in outlook, whether
they are within settlements deemed illegal under international law (a view
disputed by Israel) or in legitimate farming communities within Israel's
pre-1967 borders. 
Tomer is avowedly secular, and while Mr Maimoun says he does not mind
jumping through a few religious loopholes, his neighbour, nursery supplier
Talma Agmon, says she does not like what is happening. 
  The more powerful the rabbis get the more aggressive they get. If the
government lets them, they will do more 
Talma Agmon 
She expects her houseplant business to be down because of a creeping
religiosity and the growing influence of ultra-Orthodox rabbis. 
"Many people in Israel observe this thing of shmita and they don't
differentiate between agriculture and gardening," she says. 
"Many will not plant fruit trees, and some will not plant anything - or
even cut the grass." 
As another example Ms Agmon cites the kosher licence she displays in the
small coffee bar in her greenhouse. It costs her 600 shekels ($150; £75). 
"It's a huge blackmail, an established blackmail, which is very sad. It is
your own business if you observe, but the more powerful the rabbis get the
more aggressive they get. If the government lets them, they will do more." 
Spiritual message 
Not all growers and producers see the shmita as something to be got around
entirely. 
About 60km north of Tomer settlement sits the thriving kibbutz of Tirat
Zevi, where the 600 Orthodox Jewish residents harvest 15,000 date palm
trees as well as olives and other fruit trees. 
 
Under strict interpretation of shmita fruit must be left to fall from
trees 
Here the rabbi responsible has ordered that all plants grown within the
boundaries of the kibbutz will be left alone for the duration of the year. 
Dates and olives will not be picked and sold by the kibbutz, although
anyone can come and collect what falls from the trees for their own
consumption. Otherwise fruit will be left to rot and disposed of. 
Even the lawns and numerous flowering shrubs will not be cut. They will be
watered only as much as it takes to keep plants alive. 
"In this way we can remind people in the kibbutz the true message of
shmita, which is allowing the earth to rest and for people to think about
their spiritual needs," says Rabbi Moshe Smuel. 
That said, the extensive plantations outside the kibbutz's boundary fence
have been temporarily sold, and agricultural work will continue as normal. 
Controversies 
There has been unprecedented attention on shmita in the Israeli press in
recent times, much of it focusing on the rejection of temporary sales of
land, by many in the religious community who regard it as a "desecration"
of the shmita. 
 
Some ultra-Orthodox rabbis have told followers only to buy imported fruit
and vegetables for the next 12 months, much of it from Jordan and Europe,
provoking criticism that such a move harms the Israeli economy. 
It is yet to be seen if the impoverished Gaza Strip will reap any benefit
from this year's shmita. The territory is not considered part of the
biblical Land of Israel and has benefited economically in past shmita
years. 
However, the goods crossing between Israel and the Hamas-controlled
territory has been sealed for long periods as part of an economic blockade
on the Islamist group which Israel brands a terrorist organisation. 
Meanwhile, one press report said even Israeli Arab farmers in Israel
itself were being pressured into making temporary sales of their land -
"just to be on the safe side" - because some of them are tenants of the
Israel Land Administration. 
 
da bbc
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 Israel prepares for 'fallow' new year
affascinante. Solo che non si capisce cosa c'entri con la politica
internazionale. A meno che tu non creda che questa roba, vecchia di
quel paio di migliaia di anni, sia un nome in codice per la guerra
contro la Siria. O un tentativo di screditare Diliberto.

 internazionale. 
e perche' ? del resto se su questo ng tu hai rotto le palle per mesi che
te ne andavi via dall'Italia che c'entrava con la politica internazionale?


 e perche' ? del resto se su questo ng tu hai rotto
falso.
io ho solo riportato quel che sentivo dire a proposito dell'Italia nei
centri di acoglienza per immigrati. E mi sembra che abbia a che fare
con la politica internazionale.

 falso.
zanà hai un naso lungo lungo che si potrebbe fare salto con l'asta...


 zanà hai un naso lungo lungo
non è il naso.

non è il naso.
Se è al posto del naso c'e'' di che preoccuparsi.
MMAX
-- 
http://bloggoanchio.splinder.com


non è neanche quello che vuoi far credere, altrimenti lo si
riconoscerebbe dalla "sfumatura"

 Se è al posto del naso c'e'' di che preoccuparsi.
oddio, volendo essere cattivi la cosa si spiegherebbe benissimo...

 Se è al posto del naso c'e'' di che preoccuparsi.
rotfl
