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<p><strong><a href="https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/a-million-stories-about-zionism-violence-in-pictures/" target="_blank">A Million Stories about the Zionist Rape of This World</a> – in pictures</strong></p>
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<div style="height:2.3ex;vertical-align:top;margin-right:1ex;">PressTV &#8211; Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:11AM GMT</div>
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<div id="divLead"><strong>Olive cultivation and its related businesses in the Gaza Strip have been severely damaged due to Israel&#8217;s invasions and its long-time blockade of the impoverished coastal sliver, Press TV reports. </strong></div>
<p><a href="http://presstv.com/detail/203916.html"><img src="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/reportint20111011013030060.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>Olive farmers say while harvest seasons used to take about two months in the past, the season lasts less than a week in recent years, as Israel&#8217;s use of white phosphorous shells on the Gaza Strip has caused permanent damage to the trees.</p>
<p>Olives of the Gaza Strip are considered to be among the most high-quality worldwide.</p>
<p>The harvest used to provide seasonal employment for an estimated 25,000 workers in the Gaza Strip, but now only a few hundred people work in olive harvesting.</p>
<p>Besides the effects of the white phosphorus, olive groves are frequently razed by Israeli forces who cross into Gaza every month.</p>
<p>One-third of Gaza&#8217;s most arable land lies within the no-go zone along the eastern border.</p>
<p>According to the Palestinian Authority&#8217;s ministry of agriculture, Israeli forces destroyed 114,000 olive trees in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada in 2000.</p>
<p>Olive oil pressers have also been affected by the poor cropping. They say, while Gaza was once a major exporter of olive oil, the region can no longer meet even its own domestic demands for the product.</p>
<p>Israel laid an economic siege on the impoverished costal sliver in June 2007, after Hamas took control of the enclave. The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and the right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.</p>
<p>ASH/HJL</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://presstv.com/detail/203916.html">Source and video with more coverage click here</a></strong></p>
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