Former World Bank chief donated money from his own pocket to keep a massive greenhouse in occupied Gaza intact in order to protect thousands of Palestineans’ jobs
An agreement has been signed to transfer greenhouses from Gaza settlers to the Palestinian Authority when Israel quits the area next week.
Private foreign donors paid some $13m (£7.16m) for the hothouses, Israel’s Economic Cooperation Foundation said.
The move guarantees the jobs of 3,000 Palestinians working in the structures.
Palestinians have urged Israel to allow the free trade of goods produced in the greenhouses - claiming that otherwise the deal will be useless.
“Unless the free movement of the goods produced in these greenhouses can be guaranteed and unless the subsidies can be maintained, the greenhouses will be worthless,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian legal adviser to cabinet minister Mohammad Dahlan who is coordinating the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Pullout pay deal
Israel plans to destroy the homes of all 8,500 settlers in the Gaza strip, which is slated to begin on Wednesday next week. The move will affect all 21 settlements in the area.
Under the agreement some 230 farmers will receive $4,000 per dunum of land covered by the greenhouses.
**The special representative of the Middle East “quartet” (UN, Russia, EU and the US) - James Wolfensohn - donated $500,000 of his own money to the fund to buy the greenhouses, Boaz Karni, treasurer of Israel’s Economic Cooperation Foundation said.
He added that Mr Wolfensohn raised a further $14m from other donors.**
“The settlers will receive about $13m, as there are other expenses to take into account,” Mr Karni said.
The greenhouses cover some 3,400 dunums - or 340 hectares - of land and are used to grow flowers, vegetables and spice crops, mainly for export.
However, to ensure they remain in working order, the farmers will receive half of their money before the pullout and the rest once the army pulls out and the structures are checked.
Israeli farmers had razed 500 dunums of greenhouses before the deal was agreed.