Israel
is considering making an exception to its blockade of the Gaza Strip to import palm fronds for use in a Jewish religious festival that starts on Friday, a military spokesman said.
The request to import the branches came from the Religious Affairs Ministry, which fears a local shortage could lead dealers to drive up prices.
"This question was on the agenda but no firm decision has been taken so far," the spokesman said.
Israel and Egypt
have kept Gaza under a blockade since the Hamas movement seized power in the Palestinian enclave in June 2007.
Under the terms of the embargo Israel allows a trickle of basic and humanitarian goods into the coastal strip and virtually no exports.
In the first two years of the blockade, Israel allowed Gaza to export 147 truckloads of flowers and strawberries as compared with an average of 1,090 a month in early 2007, according to UN figures.
Stall holders in Israel do booming business in the days leading to Sukkot
selling palm fronds which the faithful wave about them during the week-long festival that gets under way at sunset on Friday.
Sukkot, sometimes called the Feast of the Tabernacles in English, commemorates the 40 years the Jews spent wandering in the desert after their flight from Egypt, according to tradition.
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