Amid the rubble of the former Jewish settlements, Palestinians have sown the first seeds of a modest economic revival.
Less than three months after the Israelis departed, Palestinians have repaired scores of greenhouses left by the settlers and planted a fall crop, and they are preparing to harvest an estimated US$20 million worth of strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers and herbs and spices.
The produce is intended mostly for export to Europe, but some will also be headed to Israel, Arab countries and the US.
After overcoming numerous obstacles, the Palestinians said their main worry now was the Karni border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, critical to moving the produce to the markets.
After intense negotiations this month, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brokered an agreement on the Gaza crossings that says Palestinian agricultural exports are to pass through Karni "on an urgent basis."
But the Palestinians say they are still worried about possible delays at the crossing.
Still, the harvest, which begins in about 10 days, will be the first tangible measure of development in Gaza, which has been in an economic free fall for most of the past five years.
"I think we have made this a success in a very short period," said Bassil Jabir, director of the Palestine Economic Development Co, a government group that works with the private sector and is overseeing greenhouse rehabilitation.
"We are employing thousands of people in these greenhouses," Jabir said during an interview in the former settlement of Gadid, in the southwest corner of Gaza, as he visited the flourishing greenhouses.
"We kept the growing cycle intact. We have pumped a lot of money into the Gaza economy," he said.
Some greenhouses were looted by Palestinians in the chaotic days after the Israeli withdrawal, but today they are hives of activity, filled with the sounds of saws and hammers at work.
Karni is the crossing for goods going in and out of Gaza, which has no seaport or working airport. During the violence of the past five years, Israel has insisted on stringent checks for weapons.
But the lengthy Israeli searches have caused frequent delays, at times spoiling produce before it reached its destination.
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