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U.S. agency bids for settlers' greenhouses

JERUSALEM - A U.S. government agency is in talks with Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip to buy 1,000 acres of their greenhouses for $15-million, the farmer leading the negotiations said Friday.

The U.S. Agency for International Development confirmed such talks are under way, but said many issues have yet to be resolved.

Israel is planning to withdraw in mid August from 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank. Many of the 8,500 Gaza settlers grow produce in greenhouses, mostly for export.

Eitan Hadari, the Gaza settler leading the negotiations, said he and the other farmers wanted to find a buyer because they could not move the greenhouses to new plots of land in Israel quickly enough and felt they were not getting enough compensation from their government.

Under the deal being discussed, USAID would pay $15-million for 1,000 acres of greenhouses, Hadari said.

He acknowledged that no contract has been drawn up yet and that some issues remain unresolved. Hadari said USAID plans to give the greenhouses to local Palestinian farmers to be used for export purposes.

[Last modified July 30, 2005, 01:10:15]