Media coverage
Al Jazeera Net · 2007-08-07
The Gaza Chamber of Commerce announced that the closure of Gaza Strip crossings has led to the shutdown of more than 3,500 industrial, commercial, and craft establishments and the loss of more than 65,000 jobs, with daily losses estimated at $1 million. Its report said the blockade threatens the furniture, garment, agriculture, and import sectors, causing major losses for traders, farmers, and importers, and warned that Gaza’s economy is heading toward total collapse and capital flight abroad.
The Gaza Chamber of Commerce announced that the closure of Gaza Strip crossings has led to the shutdown of more than 3,500 industrial, commercial, and craft establishments and the loss of more than 65,000 jobs, with daily losses estimated at $1 million. Its report said the blockade threatens the fu…
Gaza Chamber of Commerce announced that the closure of the Gaza Strip crossings has caused the shutdown of more than 3,500 industrial, commercial, and craft establishments, and the loss of jobs for more than 65,000 workers. In a report addressing the repercussions of the crossing closures in the Gaza Strip, it explained that the tightened blockade has caused daily losses estimated at one million dollars, leading to a state of anger and the emergence of protests among merchants and citizens.
The Chamber, which is concerned with facilitating the work of Palestinian merchants in Gaza, warned that the blockade threatens to destroy the furniture manufacturing sector, which is considered one of the vital industrial sectors, as a result of the accumulation of large quantities of finished furniture products intended for export abroad, estimated to be worth around eight million dollars.
The report pointed out that the blockade has caused the destruction of what remains of the garment industry, noting that the continuation of the closure will lead to heavy losses for the owners of garment factories estimated at around ten million dollars, representing the actual value of about one million pieces of clothing that had been prepared for export during the summer season, which is nearing its end.
It stated that only 10% of the total active industrial sectors in the Strip have so far managed to maintain, even partially, the continuity of their operations, indicating that a limited number of plastic, food, and metal factories rely to a large extent on production inputs available in their warehouses.
Agricultural losses
The report also addressed the impact of the continued closure of the crossings on the export of agricultural products to the West Bank and abroad, explaining that this will cause severe losses for farmers if they are unable to export their products, especially strawberry and flower growers, whose losses are expected to reach around 14 million dollars.
It added that 25,000 tons of potatoes ready for export to foreign markets, in addition to other current summer-season vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and beans, have had their export halted, and their growers have incurred heavy losses as a result of having to offer them in local markets at very low prices.
The report showed that around 2,000 Palestinian importers incurred losses due to the accumulation of containers in Israeli ports, whose number is estimated at around 2,500 containers, while noting at the same time that the decision to cancel the customs code for the Gaza Strip will entail serious negative consequences and effects.
It pointed out that the cancellation of the code has led to the revocation of the agencies and trademarks belonging to importers in the Gaza Strip, and to shortages in the quantities available of most imported goods—including basic and essential items such as medicines, devices, and medical equipment—some of which have begun to run out in the Strip’s local markets.
The report expected imported goods prices to rise in the near future due to the complex procedures that will be followed to deliver imported goods to the Gaza Strip, whereby customs clearance will be carried out under the West Bank code and then the goods will be re-shipped to the Gaza Strip, which will lead merchants to stop importing some materials and cause the prices of others to rise due to increased transport and storage costs.
The Chamber of Commerce’s public relations official, Dr. Maher al-Tabba', considered the indicators mentioned in the report to be very dangerous and to confirm that the Gaza Strip economy is heading toward a comprehensive collapse.
In a statement to Al Jazeera Net, al-Tabba' expected the features of this collapse to emerge with the start of the new school year and the advent of the month of Ramadan, explaining that weak purchasing power and rising prices as a result of the increased cost of goods will be the most prominent features of this collapse.
The Palestinian trade unionist warned of the migration of Palestinian capital abroad and the absence of an investment environment in the Gaza Strip, noting that the volume of capital in projects that have migrated abroad as a result of the closure is estimated at around 50 million dollars.
Text © Al Jazeera Net — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source