A year later: Hamas still defiant, but Gazans continue to struggle
The Islamist militant group has controlled the coastal strip for a year now and says it will not relent to international pressure.
from the June 16, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 4
A severe fuel shortage has forced motorists to buy soybean oil to replace the diesel fuel and gasoline that Israel now provides to Gaza at a severely diminished quantity. Cooking oil sells for around $8 per gallon while gasoline on the black market costs $50 per gallon. Obtaining gasoline and diesel legally requires weeks of waiting for fuel rationed by Hamas to between 10 and 50 liters per car.
Even more than fuel, smugglers in the southern city of Rafah say the highest product in demand these days is women's underwear. Cigarettes are also a popular item and are perhaps the only good in Gaza that is cheaper now than before since they are sold without a tobacco tax.
But Gazans have even larger concerns.
According to the United Nations, 80 percent of Gazans are now dependent on some form of humanitarian aid, in part because of the suspension of 96 percent of Gaza's industrial operations since the Israeli blockade stopped raw materials from being imported. A year ago, 6,500 people here worked in furniture manufacturing and 25,000 in the garment industry. As of January, those numbers dropped to zero and 75, respectively.
And yet Hamas will not relent. "It's not worth it. We are not going to give any concessions to the Israelis regarding our high national interests or the principal inalienable rights of the Palestinian people," says Ahmed Yousef, a chief political adviser to the Hamas leadership.
Part of the reason for Hamas's stance is that most Gazans, even if they did not vote for Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, still blame Israel and America for their hardships.
Jamal Abu Khader, the owner of a once-thriving plumbing businesses in Gaza City, calls both Hamas and Fatah "rubbish." But, he says, "whether it is Hamas or Fatah ruling Gaza, the responsibility is from the outside. It is not Hamas's fault."
Another reason for Hamas's support here is the dramatic improvement in security over the last year.
Since Hamas took over, clan and family warfare, and the violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah, have all but vanished. There is no ambiguity now over who is in charge, as there was after Israel withdrew in 2005. Hamas police in blue and black camouflage, and its executive force dressed in all-black vests, T-shirts, and pants, now patrol the streets.
But critics of Hamas say that the increased security, along with the support the Islamist group claims from Gazans, is a result of intimidation and a denial of freedom of expression.
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