Egypt crackdown adds to Gaza blockade woes

Egypt crackdown adds to Gaza blockade woes

GAZA STRIP, Palestine: Already struggling under the weight of an Israeli blockade, Gazans are now feeling the effects of an Egyptian exclusion zone along their shared border that has sent prices soaring.

After the cost of his cigarettes nearly tripled, 18-year-old Jihad Ahmad now buys just a few at a time instead of a full pack and smokes them sparingly.


Imad Shalbiya, who sold them to him, said Egypt’s crackdown on cross-border smuggling tunnels was behind the price hike.

“The tunnels from Egypt have been closed, hitting stocks of cigarettes in Gaza hard and sending prices soaring,” he told AFP.

Israel first imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2006 after militants there snatched one of its soldiers.

It was tightened significantly a year later when the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the territory, which is home to 1.8 million people.

However, some relief came through a honeycomb of tunnels from Egypt that brought in a wide range of consumer goods, livestock, fuel, as well as arms and money for militant groups.

Smuggling of building materials alone was worth more than 1 billion euros annually, according to Ayman Abed of Gaza’s Economy Ministry.

But the Egyptian military, which began a process of shutting down the tunnels after it overthrew Islamist President Mohammad Morsi in July 2013, stepped up its activity significantly in late October after militants in northern Sinai killed some 30 Egyptian soldiers.

Since then, it has been demolishing houses along the border to build a buffer zone in a region that has been rocked by insurgency since Morsi’s ouster.

So far, Egypt has destroyed 1,600 tunnels. In late October it also closed the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only gateway to the world not controlled by Israel.

“Prices are very high since Egypt completely closed the tunnels,” said Abu Mohammad, who owns a small supermarket west of Gaza City, noting hikes in the price of “milk, legumes and even cheese.”

“We used to sell Egyptian cheese for 10 or 11 shekels; now it is more than 23 (about $6). I don’t sell it anymore. No one buy it at this price,” he said.

And Mohammad Safi, who owns an electronics store, said: “Prices of mobiles are higher since the blockade of tunnels. We can’t get them as before. We used to sell iPhone 5s for 2,200 shekels, now [it’s] 2,600.”

Products entering from Israel are far more expensive than those originating in Egypt, and largely beyond the means of the average Palestinian in the crowded coastal territory, where youth unemployment is running at 63 percent.

Oxfam says more than 40 percent of the overall population is jobless and that 80 percent live on humanitarian aid.

The lack of cement and gravel to feed the construction industry accounts for 35,000 of Gaza’s unemployed, said Abed of the Economy Ministry.

During last summer’s war with Israel, U.N. figures show that around 20,000 housing units, or nearly 6 percent of the housing stock, were severely damaged or destroyed. That resulted in more than 100,000 internally displaced persons.

Tens of thousands of other homes were damaged in the conflict and are still awaiting repairs and renovation.

But since fighting ended on Aug. 26, only 1,300 tons of building materials have crossed into the Strip, Palestinian officials say.

“That’s not enough to put up a single building,” said Gaza builders’ merchant Suheil Tuman.

When distributed through the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), a 50 kilo gram sack of cement sells for 5.50 euros.

But the price is 42 euros on the black market.

“When the tunnels were open, a ton of cement sold for 380 shekels (80 euros) on the black market,” Tuman said.

“Today it is 3,800 shekels.”

Economist Amr Shaabane said that the economic situation “is literally disastrous. It has never been this bad in Gaza.”

The reasons? “The blockade, poverty, unemployment, the trickle of goods entering and soaring prices,” he explained.

In the past, Gaza prices had always been far lower than in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

“Today, Gaza market stalls offer Israeli goods at a price that is more expensive to begin with and to which heavy taxes are added on their entry to Gaza,” the economist said.

SOURCE: Daily Star News