Golan's apples blossom in Red Cross hands

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2007

GENEVA (AFP) — The International Red Cross's renowned neutrality is being put to a test on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights by the local farmers' blossoming apple crop, the agency revealed Friday.

The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) said that it regularly transports the season's apples back across the frontline between arch-enemies Israel and Syria to help the Syrian farmers sell them back home.

"Apples are the mainstay of the local economy," explained Mohammed Safadi, who works for the ICRC office in the occupied Golan.

"The income from this crop is very important to the local communities," he added. The farmers are Syrian nationals and refused to leave their land after the Israeli invasion in 1967.

Some 10,000 tonnes of apples are...