The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Al-Qarara

As a truce between Israel and Hamas entered its third day Saturday Gaza farmers ventured into the war-scarred land along the frontier under the distant but watchful eyes of Israeli troops.

Mazen Muhanna began work at dawn clearing the bleached remains of dozens of olive trees destroyed in an Israeli incursion outside the southern Gaza village of Al-Qarara less than two weeks ago, hoping the truce would last.

"My father planted these trees. They are older than me and I am 45, but they can destroy them in less than a minute," he said.

Since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power over a year ago farmers along the border have been caught in the crossfire between rocket-launching Palestinian militants and Israeli troops stationed just over the horizon.

"They are both awful, but the Israelis are worse. The resistance just fires rockets, but the Israelis come with tanks and bulldozers," he said, his hand sweeping across a dusty wasteland of mangled trees and meandering tank tracks.

Fadi, a 17-year-old farmer working the same land, says the farmers would prefer Palestinian militants stay away. "But if you say anything to them they will call you an agent (of Israel)," he says.

The farmers hope that an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire which took effect Thursday morning will bring an end to the near daily clashes in Gaza, but though the calm has held for more than two days the border remains tense.

Siham Smeri, a farmer and mother of five, says the Israelis still fire warning shots when the farmers get too close to the fence.

Her family owns land near the border that they haven't farmed in more than two years.