From: JMitc1014 [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2000 3:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: "No Bees, No Peace"

Perhaps there's some tactics here that might be useful for beekeepers here in
America on Capitol Hill. I especially like the tactic of blocking roads with
empty beehives. Who wants to walk up to a beehive and try to figure out if
there are bees in it or not? (Except of course a beekeeper).

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
HEADLINE: Beekeepers threaten holy war over thefts
BYLINE: By Tim Gross
   THE humble bee has become the latest irritant in the Middle East peace
negotiations as Holy Land beekeepers protest about a big increase in thefts of
hives.
   In what is being called the Beekeepers' Revolt, Israeli apiarists have
mounted noisy demonstrations at West Bank checkpoints to demand that the
authorities on both sides clamp down on thefts by Palestinians.
   Wearing their white protective overalls, netting masks and gloves,
protesters have held up placards reading, "No bees - no peace", and "Israel,
land of milk and honey", with the word "honey" crossed out.
   They are now threatening to put a sting into their protests by releasing
swarms of bees at the crossing points if their calls go unheeded.
   "We're talking about millions of bees worth hundreds of thousands of
shekels," said one beekeeper, Levi Schneerson, who has lost half his hives in
recent months. "Our livelihoods are at stake. If this goes on, I won't be able
to feed my family."
   Beehives are not difficult to steal: they can fit easily into a car and be
hidden from sight. About 2,600 of Israel's 80,000 hives were stolen last year,
and 80 per cent of those ended up in the West Bank, according to Israeli
officials.
   "There is a new mafia trade in bees," said Shachar Teneh, the head of the
Israel Beekeepers' Association.
   The issue is particularly sensitive given the important role that bees and
honey have played in Jewish history. According to the Bible, God told the
Israelites that he would bring them to a land "flowing with milk and honey".
   Jewish tradition has it that Samson, the tribal leader responsible for
defeating the Philistines, killed a lion and returned a few days later to find
that a swarm of bees had settled in its mouth.
   His remark, "Out of the strength came forth sweetness", is still used as an
idiom by many Israelis.
   The importance of the bee is no less symbolic for the Palestinians: a whole
chapter of the Koran is devoted to the insect.
   "Honey is a holy product of the Holy Land," said Osman Arafat, a leading
West Bank apiarist. "There is no such thing as a Palestinian or Israeli bee.
They fly freely over checkpoints - linking us through nature."
   Israelis say that bees are not the only possessions to be purloined in the
past few years since the Jewish state began handing back occupied
territory.
   Other property - particularly cars - has been stolen, and the owners
complain that Palestinian police have done little to stop the rising tide, and
that, sometimes, the officers have themselves been involved.
   Past Palestinian-Israeli agreements are supposed to contain measures for
combating crime. But Palestinian officials have said that they want fresh
concessions on other fronts in return for more co-operation in this area.
   When beekeepers complained this month to Hekmet Zaid, the Palestinian
agriculture minister, he told them that he would deal with the problem only if
their authorities agreed to allow Palestinian strawberries to be sold in
Israel. The Israelis say this is not possible because the Palestinians use
pesticides banned in the Jewish state.
   Shaul Yarkoni, a 54-year-old beekeeper from a collective farm near Rehovot,
south of Tel Aviv, said he hoped that others working in agriculture would join
the Beekeepers' Revolt. "We're calling on the cattlemen, the chicken raisers
and the orchard owners to come out with us," he said.
   So far, the beekeepers have blocked roads near checkpoints with burning
tyres and empty beehives. But if the authorities do not act, they are
threatening to bring full hives to their demonstrations, and release thousands
of bees.
   Border guards and the many people who regularly use the crossing points
shudder at the prospect. "Everyone will scatter, except us," said Mr Yarkoni.