The citizen Abu Ali Abu Shar goes to his land near the border fence separating Gaza and the 1948 occupied territories on daily basis to pick the prickly pear fruit.
Abu Shar leaves at dawn drives his open back Peugeot and heads to his field which is a few kilometers away from his home accompanied by some workers to help him in the picking that is carried out using a special tool called Tawala.
For Abu Shar and other farmers the prickly pear season has become like the season of picking dates and olives which are famous annual seasons in Gaza. There is a reduction in prickly pear cultivation as a result of urban sprawl and the Israeli incursions into the eastern areas of the Strip where its cultivation is concentrated.
The cactus trees had surrounded the lands of citizens since time immemorial to be like walls that protect them from tampering with their crops. Furthermore they are used as a dividing line to separate the lands from each other.
Gazans prefer to eat this fruit because it is free of any pesticides or medicines unlike other fruits as it is rain-fed and perennial crop and it produces large quantities.
Abu Shar told the PIC reporter that in the past the season of picking prickly pears would last two consecutive months as the picking process begins in July and August due to the high temperature which helps its maturity. However now it is near extinction due to the continuous Israeli bulldozing of lands and the massive urban sprawl.
For his part farmer Muhammad al-Amour points out that the cultivation of prickly pear remains only in the southern areas of the Gaza Strip where most of its trees are spread in the border areas and around olive and palm fields. The fruit is then transferred from these lands to the rest of the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with the PIC correspondent Amour considers picking the prickly pear as a source of income by which he gets some shekels to meet some of the family’s needs.
He points out that the summer fruit is picked in the morning hours due to the presence of dewdrops on the fruit which softens the thorns.
The prickly pear is a cactus plant that grows in dry areas. It is a perennial crop and has the ability to resist drought because of its water-filled stems which makes it is a favorite food for camels in desert areas despite its sharp thorns spread on its surface.
The fruit of the prickly pear from the inside contains a fleshy pulp full of small seeds and its peel is thick and contains many pores in each of which grows many sharp thorns.
