I had read of the interesting trade agreement between Syria and Israel in the past and am happy to see that it has actually bore fruit (pun intended):
Six trucks carrying dozens of cartons of apples grown by Syrian farmers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights passed through a border point in this town Monday in the first commercial traffic here in more than three decades.All things being equal, the tyrants in The Middle East (Hezbollah and Bashar Al-Assad to mane 2) are not done obstructing Democratic developments in that region. But we are seeing a true calling by the peoples of these war-torn lands for reform of their governments. These small gestures, like apples are merely micro-cogs in a process much larger and vast in scope than any one person is capable of explaining. No longer can the anti-Democratic rhetoric passed on from such places as the United Nations win the ears of all the people. Slowly but surely, one person and then two and then three are coming to realize that what we are offering is not "Americanization" but rather a key to a future much brighter than that offered by folks like Saddam Hussein, The Mullahs of Iran and Bashar Al-Assad.
The first-ever business between Syria - an arch foe of Israel - and residents of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was seen by many as a gesture by Damascus toward the possibility of resuming peace talks with Israel.
But a Syrian lawmaker insisted the move had no political purpose, and Israeli political analysts played down its significance.
Damascus agreed this month to let Druse farmers in the Golan sell their Golden Delicious and Starking apples - renowned as particularly delicious because they are grown on high ground - inside Syria.
Since Israel and Syria last fought over the plateau in the 1973 war, the crossing essentially has been used only by Syrian brides marrying into Druse families and Druse students studying in Syria.
But the U.N.-monitored business transaction, carried out by Kenyans driving trucks with the Swiss license plates of the International Committee of the Red Cross, may be a one-time affair. Since Israel occupied the plateau during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, there had been no business previously between both sides.
A U.S.-brokered troop separation deal returned Quneitra to Syrian rule in 1974 but not before retreating Israelis bulldozed hundreds of houses. Israel now holds two-thirds of the Golan, or about 450 square miles, and formally annexed it in 1981.
Some 17,000 Arabs following the Druse religion - an offshoot of Islam - live on the Israeli-occupied side with 15,000 Israeli settlers. Nearly all the Arabs have rejected Israeli citizenship and retain strong feelings for Syria, which provides free university education.
About 220 tons of apples from a total of 7,700 tons will cross daily into Syria in the next several weeks, ICRC delegation head Jean-Jacques Fresard told reporters.
"It took us several months until we had an agreement in principle on the operation itself," he said, adding the transaction was a "one-time operation only."
The apples are expected to be sold for about 29 cents per pound, and some might be exported. The trucks carried the fruit across the border and passed them to Syrian trucks waiting a half-mile away.
Syria and Israel have not reached a peace deal, and Damascus said it was making the purchase to help its Syrian brethren on the other side of the border.
Ismail Mer'i, a Syrian parliamentarian waiting for the trucks with U.N. team members, said the "operation is ultimately humanitarian and has no political connotations."
Yoel Chen, an Israeli Agriculture Ministry official who watched the apples cross, said the shipment had business benefits for the Golan.
"The intention is that in the end we will open some kind of route for large quantities of fruits to travel through Syria to markets in the Gulf states," he told Israel's Channel 10 TV.
Some Israelis did not see much political impact.
"I do not think it is that important - it is just a gesture from the Syrians to the Druse who are their citizens. It is a way for the Syrians to keep in touch with them," said Shlomo Brom, a Syria expert at Tel Aviv University. "If anyone is looking for signs of impending peace between Israel and Syria, I wouldn't recommend looking there."
Syrian President Bashar Assad has said that although Damascus was ready to resume negotiations with Israel where they left off in 2000, there was no hope for peace talks for now because Israel would not agree to that condition.
Nevertheless, Assad - under intense pressure over Lebanon - has made several conciliatory moves in recent months, including agreeing in principle to withdraw Syrian troops from Lebanon. A key Iraqi insurgent, who was a half brother of Saddam Hussein, also was captured recently with apparent Syrian help.
Last month, Syria's Foreign Ministry said the apples would enter Syria through Quneitra on the Golan border, 40 miles southwest of Damascus, under the supervision of the U.N. Disengagement and Observer Forces.
In explaining the decision, the ministry said the fruit was "Syrian, grown on Syrian land and owned by Syrians." The objective was "to meet the pressing demands of Syrian citizens languishing under occupation and to help alleviate their suffering."
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