P.A. Lifts Israeli Watermelon Ban, Temporarily

JERUSALEM, Israel – The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture in the Gaza Strip lifted an eight-year ban on Israeli-grown watermelons, the P.A.'s official Ma'an News Agency reported.

According to the report, the P.A. ministry lifted the ban for three days to alleviate price increases on Gaza-grown watermelon, which has fallen short this year

Tahsin al-Saqqa, the ministry's general director of marketing and crossings, said he expected 1,000 tons of watermelons would be delivered to Gaza over the next three days.

In 2010, the Palestinian Authority authorized the destruction of 7.5 tons of watermelons and threatened to prosecute Arab merchants doing business with Israeli farmers in Judea and Samaria.

Former P.A. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who initiated the boycott, said the destruction was done publicly so Arab merchants wouldn't be tempted to bring in merchandise from Jewish communities.

"We will not stop at barring goods or destroying them, but we will also put on trial merchants caught with such products," Fayyad said in a statement.