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Dates with Israelis don't always go as planned
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| By Reuven Koret September 26, 2007 |
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 Bookmark to del.icio.us |
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| Moroccan menage a trois, with luscious dates for all |
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Islam Online reports that a "flood" of Israeli dates has swamped Morocco's souk during the "holy fasting month of Ramadan," perhaps insinuating that the Israel is trying to palm off illicit temptations to unwitting fasters.
The correspondent quotes Abdel-Jalil, a teacher, as reporting the discovery of dates with an Israeli trademark in the markets of Rabat.
The correspondent, Ahmad Hamouch, reports that the fruit are trademarked "Bat Sheva" - which he amusingly describes "as the Hebrew name of the town of Beersheba" and says that "the Israeli dates can been seen in abundance on the shelves in eastern and central Morocco," noting in apparent horror that the "Made in Israel" label is obviously seen on the packages.
In fact, Bat Sheva is the name of the woman in the Bible who tempted King David by taking a "bat'" outside his window, a naked exhibition which seems to support the tempt-the-muslims-so-they-can't-resist conspiracy theory, unknown to the innocent Islam Online correspondent.
"We used to buy dates from Arab countries such as Tunisia," said hajj Mohamed, a dates vendor. "I myself would not buy dates produced by our enemy," he said. But he was evidently eyeing with envy those competitors selling them like hotcakes.
For those lacking in a thumbnail history of the Entire Middle East conflict, the Islam Online date-raker provides a helpful summary:"The Israeli-Arab conflict dates back to the 1948 when well-armed Israeli militants bombarded Palestine and forced its natives into a panicky flight to establish the state of Israel."
"The ties (but evidently not the dates) turned more sour after the 1967 Middle East War, when Israel occupied Palestinian Al-Quds (Arab East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights."
"The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day." (But evidently not the dates.)
But back to those self-serving competitive merchants.
Mohamed said some merchants (excluding Ismail, his brother in law, who is addicted to the Bat-Sheva dates) are greedy and uncaring. "They disrespect the sensibilities of Moroccans and are only after money," he said. He said "some retailers" -- perhaps he means wholesalers or distributors -- "are baffling merchants like him and mix Israeli dates with Arab ones."
In other words, he was selling Israeli dates after all! "The other day, I was shocked to know that some of the dates were made in Israel," he said.
But enterprising merchants have found a clever solution, the journalist reports. "Abdel-Jalil, the teacher, says merchants tend to remove the Israeli label and sell the dates as if they were made in Arab countries Like Egypt."
Khaled Al-Sufiany, coordinator of the national group for the support of Iraq and Palestine, is up in arms about the unfair dating practices.
"This is provocative. The pro-Israel camp is exploiting Ramadan and slam dunk a trade normalization on the laypeople," said he, evidently a basketball fan.
By their many dates with Moroccans, the Israel-date-advocates "are funding the Zionist regime to continue its daily crimes against the Palestinians," he said.
Morocco, however, repeatedly denies any trade relations with Israel, Islam Online's correspondent reports, and the North African kingdom closed its trade office in Tel Aviv and the Israeli trade office in Rabat following the outbreak of the 2000 Al-Aqsa intifada.
But dating practices continues, and not just with dates. Non-government groups say that the two countries are having booming ties, especially in the agricultural field. A recent report by Israel Export Institute, he reported, said that "Israeli exports to Morocco mushroomed by 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2006."
Next thing you know there will be reports of hallucinogenic Israeli mushrooms mellowing the Muslim masses and giving them the munchies. So they can scarf down more Israeli dates in secret during Ramadan days, no doubt.
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