Publication
Omar Shaban Ismail · Al-Monitor · 2013
Al-Monitor 2013 analysis of the new wealth class created by Gaza's tunnel economy — hundreds of families enriched by smuggling operations who had economic interests in the blockade's continuation, complicating Gaza's political economy by creating stakeholders opposed to the status quo's end.
Al-Monitor 2013 analysis of the new wealth class created by Gaza's tunnel economy — hundreds of families enriched by smuggling operations who had economic…
Editorial summary — the full article is published by Al-Monitor and cannot be reproduced here. What follows is an account of the subject written afterwards, not the original text.
The tunnel economy that developed between Gaza and Egypt's Sinai, peaking between 2007 and 2013, created a new economic class in Gaza: businessmen who operated the tunnels, controlled the smuggled goods trade, and accumulated significant wealth in a territory where formal economic activity had largely collapsed. This class — estimated at several hundred families at its peak — had economic interests directly tied to the continuation of the blockade and the tunnel trade. The tunnels smuggled not only consumer goods but also construction materials, fuel, vehicles, and eventually weapons. They also provided Hamas with significant tax revenue. The emergence of a "tunnel millionaire" class complicated Gaza's political economy: it created stakeholders who benefited from the status quo, reduced pressure for the lifting of the blockade from within Gaza's business community, and generated social tensions between enriched tunnel operators and the majority of the population whose economic situation continued to deteriorate.
Topic: Gaza Economy — Tunnel economy · Sinai · class formation — Text © Al-Monitor — archived here with attribution to the source. — Original source