A significant part of the agricultural workforce in the areas surrounding Gaza employed Palestinians (from Gaza and the West Bank). Due to the current circumstances, these workers are not allowed to enter the country. Other foreign workers, many from Thailand, were evacuated and returned home. The farmers, who rely heavily on these people to help them prepare the ground and plant seeds, look after the vast agricultural areas, care for the various plants, and harvest the produce have been left with very few who can handle the load.
Prof. Moshe Lewenstein, BIU’s Deputy President (middle), Ofer Dahan, Executive Director of BIU’s International School (right)
Against this background, Prof. Moshe Lewenstein, BIU’s Deputy President, Ofer Dahan, Executive Director of BIU’s International School, and many others volunteered to pick strawberries for one of these farmers, and they are not alone. Volunteers from throughout Israel have been doing the same all over the area surrounding Gaza and northern Israel.
“Conversations are made between the beds of strawberries,” Dahan said. “One is an athlete and one is a student. Another is a high-tech guy and a fourth is an academic. Teenagers from a nearby youth movement join in as well. Immigrants from Ethiopia and many other countries. We talk easily without the need for names, sharing experiences and insights. People who were brought together by a tragedy and a war, who are connected through their desire to volunteer for the benefit of others, not themselves.”
