Kashrus Dilemma In The Palestinian Authority

The Rabbanut's kashrus division has a dilemma.

A tehina factory in Shechem, in the heart of the Palestinian Authority, has realized how big of a business kashrus is, and how going kosher can be very beneficial to a company's success, and is absolutely necessary in order to get your food product, tehina in this case, distributed through the chain supermarkets. The tehina factory in Shchem has contacted the Rabbanut requesting kashrus certification on the factory.

This is the first time the Rabbanut has ever received such a request, to certify a factory in the PA territories, and it puts them in a bind.

The bind being how they can possibly supervise what is going on inn the factory when it is too dangerous, and therefore impossible, for them to show up at the factory.

The administrators of the factory have even offered to fund and secure the entry of the mashgichim into the PA area and the factory, coordinating everything with the security forces.

Problem solved, right? Wrong. This just creates another problem.

Since the mashgichim would not be able to come in without arranging things first with the PA security forces, there is no way they can hold an element of surprise over the factory administration and employees. Without the element of surprise via being able to come and go whenever you want, the supervision is worthless. The factory must know when the mashgichim are coming, thus giving them the opportunity to do whatever they want when the mashgichim are not around, and they would clean things up right before the appointed time the mashgiach is meant to arrive.

The Rabbanut is currently looking for a solution to the problem.

Who would have thought kashrus and the PA go together in the same sentence? Perhaps the PA needs to  solve this by opening up it's own version of the Rabbanut, or some sort of kashrus certification system.