Avocados are not native to the Middle East; rather comically, as the Arabic alphabet doesn’t have the letter v, they are referred to in Gaza as Abu Cado— that is, “the father of he who annoys others.”

Avocado trees were introduced by Israeli settlements occupying Palestinian land in Gaza in the 1980s. The settlers have since gone, but the avocados have been adopted with enthusiasm. They grow in great abundance, particularly in the rich agricultural lan