Israel urged to lift blockade on struggling Gaza fishing industry

Palestinian fishing boats are moored at the port of Gaza City. (AFP file photo)
Short Url
Updated 26 July 2022
Follow

Israel urged to lift blockade on struggling Gaza fishing industry

  • Fishermen risk being shot, arrested and having their catch confiscated Palestinians’ farming, imports cannot meet a 12,000-ton shortfall

GAZA CITY: Palestinians stand on the sides of tanks at Al-Bahar Fish Farm, waiting to pick up sea bream to cook at home, or have gutted and grilled in the adjoining restaurant.

Al-Bahar is one of three fish farms in the Gaza Strip adjacent to the Mediterranean, which were started by Palestinian investors to meet local market needs.

The fish is farmed in special tanks containing salt or freshwater, equipped with oxygen pumps and water purification devices.

Yasser Al-Hajj, the owner of Al-Bahar Farm, said that he started the project about six years ago because of local market needs and “the restrictions imposed on” the fishing industry.

He said that he chose bream because they are easier and cheaper to breed, compared to other species. There is, however, little experience of raising them in tanks.

The Palestinians have started these projects because of Israel’s restrictions over several years. An exclusion zone policed by Israel limits the industry’s range to between 10 and 20 kilometers off Gaza’s coast.

Fishermen risk being shot, arrested and having their catch confiscated.

“I’ve been buying fish from the farm here regularly, once or twice a week for years, sometimes it’s prepared at home and sometimes I ask them in the restaurant to prepare it for me before I take it home,” said Mahmoud Ghaly, 52, a customer at Al-Bahar farm.

“I can see what is caught in front of my eyes and it is fresh and tasty fish at the same time, other than what is in the market, which I can’t be sure was freshly caught. Besides, my family loves sea bream,” Ghaly added.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, Palestinian fishermen catch about 4,500 tons of fish, while local farms produce about 620 tons, about 1,500 tons are imported from Egypt annually, and several thousand tons of frozen fish are bought from other international sources.

The Gaza Strip needs about 26,000 tons of fish annually, at a rate of 13 kilograms per person, but there is a shortfall of 12,000 tons that is not met by fish caught, farmed and imported.

Walid Thabet, general director of fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza, said: “The permitted area for fishing in the Gaza Strip is limited, and the number of fishermen is also small, in addition to the fact that the Mediterranean is one of the poorest seas for fishing.”

Thabet added: “If the blockade is lifted and fishermen are allowed access to larger areas to fish and equipment is allowed to enter freely, the catches will double dramatically.”

In addition, annually 800 tons of the fish caught in Gaza and produced at the farms are sold at West Bank markets.

Thabet said the ministry allows fish to be imported from Egypt at reasonable prices for the local market, in exchange for allowing some to be sold in the West Bank. This creates a situation where local fisherman are supported and their catches bought at better prices.

About 4,000 Palestinians and their families in the Gaza Strip depend on fishing as a source of income.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN funded in 2020 offshore marine cages in Gaza’s waters as part of efforts to strengthen the resilience of Gaza’s fishing communities.

The marine cage farm produces around 120 to 150 tons of sea bream per year, contributing about 5 percent to the local fish market.

Ciro Fiorillo, head of the FAO office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said these projects would increase profits that can be reinvested in the industry.

 


Russian cargo plane departs Syria for Libya; more flights expected, official says

Updated 8 sec ago
Follow

Russian cargo plane departs Syria for Libya; more flights expected, official says

LATAKIA: A Russian cargo plane departed from Russia’s air base in Latakia for Libya on Saturday, a Syrian security official stationed outside the facility said.
The official stationed at the gate told Reuters that additional Russian departures from the Hmeimim air base in Syria’s coastal Latakia province are expected in the coming days.
On Friday, satellite images showed Russia moving military equipment at Syria’s Hmeimim air base, with two Antonov AN-124 cargo planes visible, following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad by rebels last weekend.


US general discusses Syria, other regional issues in Israel visit

Updated 14 December 2024
Follow

US general discusses Syria, other regional issues in Israel visit

  • Washington has urged Israel to be in close consultation with the US over events unfolding in Syria
  • Israeli military said its jets conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria and destroyed the bulk of its strategic weapons stockpiles

WASHINGTON: A top US military officer visited Israel from Wednesday to Friday, meeting with Israeli defense officials and discussing the situation in Syria, among other regional topics, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
Army General Michael Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander, met Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, along with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, CENTCOM said.
Washington has urged Israel to be in close consultation with the US over events unfolding in Syria, where days earlier Syrian rebels led by rebel leader Abu Mohammed Al-Golani brought an end to more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family, as ousted President Bashar Assad fled the country.
The world has been watching to see if Syria’s new rulers can stabilize the country in which more than a decade of civil war killed hundreds of thousands and sparked a refugee crisis.
Following the collapse of Assad’s regime, the Israeli military said its jets conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria and destroyed the bulk of its strategic weapons stockpiles.
Katz has ordered Israeli troops to prepare to stay over the winter on Mount Hermon, a strategic location overlooking Damascus, adding to signs that Israel is planning a prolonged military presence in Syria.
“The leaders discussed a range of regional security issues, to include the ongoing situation in Syria, and preparedness against other strategic and regional threats,” the CENTCOM statement said.
CENTCOM said Kurilla also visited Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon in recent days.
While Israel welcomed the removal of Assad, an ally of arch rival Iran, it is suspicious of the rebel groups that toppled him, many of which have origins linked to Islamist groups.
In Lebanon, Kurilla visited Beirut to monitor withdrawal of the first Israeli troops under a ceasefire reached last month for a war that killed thousands and displaced over a million.
Israel is separately waging a war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, where its military assault over the last 14 months has killed tens of thousands and led to genocide and war crimes accusations that it denies.
Israel’s assault on Gaza followed an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed 1,200.


Israel orders troops to ‘prepare to remain’ in Syria buffer zone through winter

Updated 14 December 2024
Follow

Israel orders troops to ‘prepare to remain’ in Syria buffer zone through winter

  • Israel seized demilitarized zone hours after Syrian opposition forces wept president Bashar Assad from power
  • Israel says it seized UN-patrolled buffer zone to defend itself after Assad's ouster from office during civil war 

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to “prepare to remain” throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights.

Israel seized the demilitarized zone on Sunday, just hours after Syrian opposition forces swept president Bashar Assad from power.

Since then, the Israeli military has launched hundreds of air and naval strikes against Syrian military assets, targeting everything from chemical weapons stores to air defenses to prevent them from falling into opposition forces’ hands.

The plan to deploy troops in the buffer zone comes at a time when Israeli forces are still withdrawing from southern Lebanon after fighting Hezbollah militants for months and the war in Gaza with Palestinian militants continues.

“Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon, and everything must be done to ensure the (army’s) readiness on-site to enable the fighters to stay there despite the challenging weather conditions,” Katz’s spokesman said in a statement on Friday.

Israel says it seized the buffer zone to defend itself.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday that the collapse of Assad’s rule had created a “vacuum on Israel’s border and in the buffer zone.”

“This deployment is temporary until a force that is committed to the 1974 (armistice) agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.”

Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

It held onto the territory during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and in 1981 annexed the area in a move since recognized only by the United States.

Israel’s seizure of the buffer zone has triggered widespread international criticism, including from UN chief Antonio Guterres.

Guterres “is deeply concerned by the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Thursday.

“The Secretary-General is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli air strikes on several locations in Syria.”

The UN says Israel’s seizure of the buffer zone violates the 1974 armistice.

Guterres urges “the parties to the agreement to uphold their obligations under this instrument, including by ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the ceasefire and stability in Golan,” Dujarric said.

Israel’s key military ally the United States has called for the Israeli incursion to be “temporary.”

Analysts say Israel is concerned that any remaining stocks of chemical or other strategic weapons that Assad’s forces had held onto could fall into the hands of jihadist groups, who might use them against it.


Jordan to host Syria talks after Damascus erupts in celebration

Updated 14 December 2024
Follow

Jordan to host Syria talks after Damascus erupts in celebration

  • While Syrians celebrate the end of Assad’s brutal rule, they face a struggle for necessities in a country ravaged by war, sanctions and runaway inflation

Damascus: Jordan will host US, EU, Turkish and Arab diplomats on Saturday for high-level talks on Syria, a day after celebrations in Damascus and nationwide rejoicing at the ouster of president Bashar Assad.
Syrians celebrated the day they called the “Friday of victory” with fireworks heralding the fall of the Assad dynasty.
More than half a century of brutal rule by his clan came to a sudden end on Sunday, after a lightning rebel offensive swept across the country and took the capital.
Assad’s fall has also led to fast-moving diplomatic developments, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken among envoys set to discuss Syria on Saturday in the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
Turkiye, meanwhile, will reopen its embassy in Damascus, closed since 2012 amid calls by Ankara for Assad to step down.
A Qatari diplomat said a delegation from the Gulf emirate would visit Syria on Sunday to meet transitional government officials and discuss aid and the reopening of their embassy.
Unlike other Arab states, Qatar never restored diplomatic ties with Assad after a rupture in 2011.
Assad has fled Syria, closing an era in which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed, and capping nearly 14 years of war that killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.
'Tears of joy'
Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded the offensive, had called on Syrians “to go to the streets to express their joy.”
Celebrations continued into the night on the first Friday — the Muslim day of rest and prayer — since Assad took flight.
Umayyad Square in Damascus was jammed with vehicles, people and waving flags as fireworks shot into the air, AFPTV live images showed.
Thousands flocked to the capital’s landmark Umayyad Mosque, some raising the three-star Syrian independence flag that none dared wave in the capital during Assad’s repressive rule.
Crowds also gathered in the squares and streets of other Syrian cities, including Homs, Hama and Idlib.
There was a festive and relaxed atmosphere as hundreds rallied in the main square of Syria’s second city Aleppo, a scene of fierce fighting during the country’s civil war, AFP correspondents said.
A huge billboard depicting Assad and his father Hafez was set on fire.
Ahmad Abd Al-Majed, 39, an engineer who returned to Aleppo from Turkiye, said that many shed “tears of joy and happiness.”
“Syrians deserve to be happy,” he said.
In the southern city of Sweida, the heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, Bayan Al-Hinnawi, 77, never believed he would live to see such a day.
“It’s a wonderful sight. Nobody could have imagined this could happen,” said Hinnawi, who spent 17 years in prison.
Tens of thousands missing
Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda and designated a terrorist organization by many Western governments.
The group has sought to moderate its rhetoric, and the interim government insists the rights of all Syrians will be protected — as will the rule of law.
The European Union was seeking “to establish contacts” with the new rulers soon, an EU official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The UN refugee agency said the new government had sent “constructive” initial signals, including asking the organization to stay in the country.
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) democratic countries, who met virtually on Friday, expressed hope for “a peaceful and orderly transition through the definition of an inclusive political process” in Syria.
Inside much of Syria, the focus is turning toward unraveling the secrets of Assad’s rule, particularly the network of detention centers and suspected torture sites.
Syrians have descended upon prisons, hospitals and morgues in search of long-disappeared loved ones.
“I turned the world upside down looking,” Abu Mohammed told AFP as he searched for news of three missing relatives at the Mazzeh air base in Damascus.
“We just want a hint of where they were.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it documented more than 35,000 disappearances during Assad’s rule, with the actual number likely far higher.
While Syrians celebrate the end of Assad’s brutal rule, they face a struggle for necessities in a country ravaged by war, sanctions and runaway inflation.
On Friday, the EU announced the launch of an “air bridge” operation to deliver an initial 50 tons of health supplies via neighboring Turkiye.
Israel ready to stay in buffer zone
Assad was propped up by Russia — where a senior Russian official told US media he has fled — as well as Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told private NTV television that his country had urged Russia and Iran not to intervene militarily “to ensure minimum loss of life.”
The rebels launched their offensive on November 27, the same day a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war, which saw Israel inflict staggering losses on Assad’s Lebanese ally.
Both Israel and Turkiye, which backs some of the rebels who ousted Assad, have since carried out strikes inside Syria.
Israel’s latest strikes hit military sites in the Eastern Qalamun region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Saturday.
Israel has also sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, in a move the UN said violated a 1974 armistice.
The army has been ordered to “prepare to remain” there throughout the winter, Defense Minister Israel Katz’s office said Friday.


OIC condemns ‘horrific’ Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed dozens

Updated 14 December 2024
Follow

OIC condemns ‘horrific’ Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed dozens

  • Statement: The act is an extension of organized terrorism and continuous genocide that has been ongoing against the Palestinian people

RIYADH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Friday denounced the killing of 33 Palestinians in a crowded Gaza camp as Israel continued its attacks on the enclave.
“The act is considered an extension of organized terrorism and continuous genocide that has been ongoing for more than fourteen months against the Palestinian people,” the organization said in an Arabic statement.
The attack, which the OIC called “horrific,” was on a post office in Nuseirat and follows a long list of Israeli attacks which have killed civilians in dense makeshift camps in the Gaza Strip. Israel claims to be targeting Palestinian militants in the strikes.
Relatives of the deceased wept and read verses of the Qur’an as they gathered at Al-Awda Hospital before burying their loved ones on Friday.
“Every time things happen and we say there will be a truce and we will rest... After that, they change their minds, they change their minds, we don’t know why,” Mattar said.
“They have killed the hope and optimism,” said Suheil Mattar, whose grandchildren and daughter-in-law were killed.
Gaza health officials said Friday that at least 44,875 people had been killed in more than 14 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants. Over 105,454 people have been wounded during the same period, according to the enclave’s health ministry.

— with input from Reuters