Media coverage
Berria · 2013-04-19
The piece describes a worsening public mood in Gaza after the optimism that followed the ceasefire, as residents complain of stalled economic activity and rising food prices, while Egypt’s destruction of eastern tunnels and its failure to open the Rafah crossing for raw materials have reduced imports and deepened economic fragility. It also highlights the delayed Qatari investment, the construction sector’s crisis, demographic pressure, and growing criticism of Hamas over its style of rule and its inability to reconcile its role as a resistance movement with that of a governing authority.
The piece describes a worsening public mood in Gaza after the optimism that followed the ceasefire, as residents complain of stalled economic activity and rising food prices, while Egypt’s destruction of eastern tunnels and its failure to open the Rafah crossing for raw materials have reduced impor…
Gazans’ mood leaves not the slightest room for doubt. “After the ceasefire we were very optimistic, and we thought it could bring about the end of the blockade. But now we are worse off than before Israel’s latest military assault.” That is the view of a fisherman named Ahmed Abu Shokry. Three weeks ago, Israel took away his right to fish at six nautical miles. From him, and from all the other fishermen in Gaza.
Abu Shokry’s anger is not an isolated case. Many residents of Gaza City believe the situation has worsened. By now they expect very little from politics, and they are certain the hole in their pockets has grown larger. Essentially, Gazans voice two main complaints: economic activity is at a standstill and food prices have risen sharply.
According to researcher Omar Shaban, Gaza is going through a more fragile moment than last year, and besides the Israeli blockade, he pointed to one main reason: “Egypt has destroyed the eastern tunnels, but it has not opened the Rafah border crossing for raw materials. As a result, imports have declined, and economic instability has taken hold.”
There is another reason, however. The $400 million investment announced by the Emir of Qatar last October has not gotten under way. “It is creating uncertainty, economic stagnation. Gazans who wanted to start a business or buy a home have backed away,” says a manager at a construction company. Thus, Hamas has had to remind Gazans of what they already know: Gaza is suffering from a severe financial crisis.
The construction sector has felt the decline in imports most acutely. Gaza needs 14,000 additional homes every year, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. After the ceasefire, Egypt authorized the entry of cement and construction materials through Rafah, but only in a symbolic way. As a result, three tons of cement arrive daily through the tunnels. “It is not enough. For example, repairing the main coastal road requires a contribution of one million tons. But how can all that be imported?” Shaban emphasized.
The decline in economic activity and the paralysis of the construction sector are causing deep concern among Hamas authorities. The population is anxious, and Ismail Haniyeh’s government is losing the ability to control the internal forces that until now had shown it deference.
Isam Younis is the director of the Al Mezan organization. In his view, Gazans are racing against time: “Gaza’s population will grow from 1.5 million inhabitants to 2.1 million in eight years. We need 400 more schools in an area of 360 square kilometers. Every day we are more hemmed in, and demographic pressure will lead us to an explosion.”
A political crisis can also easily be discerned in Gaza. Hamas’s government emerged strengthened from the latest conflict, both among Palestinians and internationally. Gazans regarded it as a moral victory; indeed, Hamas received the support of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East and of Western governments.
But Gaza remains on the same path five months later, and very few believe the ceasefire agreement will become reality. Seeing that Israel has not fulfilled the agreement to open the crossings, various political groups in Gaza believe Hamas is acting “too softly.” They have called on it to give Israel a forceful response, especially factions close to Islamic Jihad. “Hamas is governing much better than the government in the West Bank, but it has to prove to us that it remains firm against the occupation,” stressed Dawood Shihab, spokesperson for Islamic Jihad.
In Shaban’s view, Hamas is facing a conceptual crisis, and it is still relying on the “action-reaction principle” imposed by the Israeli blockade: “They want to continue being a resistance movement while they are governing Gaza, and that is impossible. Sooner or later they will have to accept that they are part of the political game.”
Shihab shares that view: “Sometimes we do not know who makes the decisions, a government democratically chosen by the people or a movement that rules from exile.”
According to Younis, frictions between Hamas and Gazans have emerged because it governs like a movement. “Seeing that the public mood is on the verge of bottoming out, this is not the time to divide society.” He is referring to the “good manners campaign” announced last week.
Specifically, several Palestinian human rights organizations have denounced that Gaza’s police forced ten boys whose hair was considered too long or too modern to get haircuts. Seeking to avoid protests by young people, the Islamist movement made it clear that this was not a campaign launched by the government, and it ordered the police to back down.
Even so, many citizens believe Hamas is trying to divert attention. “Teachers and administrative employees are going to begin a strike because they want salaries equal to those of teachers in the West Bank. Instead of examining that, we are talking about haircuts,” Shaban criticized.
Younis does not see it that way, however: “It is clear that Hamas is an ideological movement and that it has its own social agenda. So far they have not changed the legislation, and they have acted cautiously so as not to interfere too much in social issues; but little by little, they will begin to do so.”
Text © Berria — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source