Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for the unilateral withdrawal of all twenty-one Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip by mid-August 2005.

Nissim Sroussi, a specialist in arid land cultivation and a second-generation Israeli farmer, moved to the Gaza Strip twenty-seven years ago. His expertise proved useful for the growth of the settlement he founded, Gan Or, and ultimately for the success of Jewish growers throughout the Gaza Strip, whose produce, today, is shipped all over Israel, Europe, and the U.S.