Are Hamas Loyalists Growing Rich on the Backs of Poorer Palestinians?
- Posted on August 23, 2011 at 4:28am by
Scott Baker
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A budding middle class in the impoverished Gaza Strip is flaunting its wealth, sipping coffee at gleaming new cafes, shopping for shoes at the new tiny shopping malls, and fueling perhaps the most acrimonious grass roots resentment yet toward the ruling Hamas movement.
In this picture taken Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011 Palestinians shop at the new al-Andulusia mall in Gaza City. An abrupt flurry of construction is suddenly allowing a tiny middle class to flaunt its wealth in the impoverished Gaza Strip, fueling perhaps the most acrimonious grassroots resentment yet toward the ruling Hamas movement. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
This middle class, which has become visible at the same time as a mini-construction boom in this blockaded territory, is celebrating its weddings in opulent halls and vacationing in newly built beach bungalows. That level of consumption may be modest by Western standards, but it’s in startling contrast to the grinding poverty of most Gazans, who rely on U.N. food handouts to get by.
Some of the well-off are Hamas loyalists. That rankles many Gaza residents because the conservative Islamic movement gained popularity by tending to the poor — through charitable aid, education and medical care — along with its armed struggle against Israel.
“Hamas has become rich at the expense of the people,” fumed a 22-year-old seamstress, Nisrine, as she stitched decorative applique onto a dress. She wouldn’t disclose her family name, not wanting to be seen criticizing the militant group.
Gaza’s Hamas government denies its loyalists have gotten wealthy since the group came to power.
Corruption “doesn’t touch us,” said Hamas official Yusef Rizka.
But others — even those close to Hamas — say the militant group must pay attention.
“There is a nouveau riche that has followed the rise of the government,” said Alaa Araj, a former Gaza economic minister and businessman considered close to Hamas. “We must sound the alarm,” he said. “(Resentment) is growing in Gaza.”
AP
Gaza residents are also resentful because they feel they have suffered the worst effects of the Israeli and Egyptian blockade that was slapped on the territory when the militant group seized power in 2007. The blockade was a failed attempt to crush Hamas; instead it impoverished already poor Gazans, killed off trade and effectively imprisoned residents inside the territory.
Some two-thirds of Gaza’s 1.6 million people live in poverty and rely on U.N. food aid. About half the work force is unemployed. Many employed Gazans are paid miserly wages, keeping them struggling.
They include the seamstress Nisrine, who is paid $5 a day, money that her family keeps. Baker Sami Awad, 27, earns $9 a day to support his five siblings and his sister’s two children. Their father abandoned them years ago; his sister’s husband was killed in an Israeli incursion. Their stories are typical.
Hamas has always had a small core of prominently wealthy loyalists. But it appears another small group has seen its fortunes rise since the Hamas came to power, primarily investors and high-level civil servants in Gaza’s 24,000-strong bureaucracy.
The territory also has an established middle class of old merchant families, senior aid officials and loyalists of Fatah, a Palestinian group that rivals Hamas. But there’s less resentment toward them — perhaps because they are not in power.
The new signs of prosperity are due to a mini-construction boom that can be traced back to Israel’s easing of the blockade it imposed on Gaza in 2007.
To circumvent the blockade, Palestinians built hundreds of underground tunnels crisscrossing the Gaza-Egypt border to bring in scarce consumer goods, as well as weapons. But after Israel started letting in more consumer goods a year ago, tunnels were freed up to bring in materials that remained severely restricted — such as raw construction materials.
The prices of raw materials dropped, sparking a flurry of construction.
Some 150 of Gaza’s estimated 700 tunnels are solely used for raw materials, said two tunnel traders who requested anonymity because they dodge Hamas taxes. Some 120 tons of raw materials are typically hauled daily through a single tunnel, they said. The rush of new building materials pushed down concrete from a blockade high of $900 a ton to $157. Gravel was $990, now it’s $28.
Restrictions on exports and imports make some construction projects, including factories, unfeasible. Investors are instead undertaking projects that target domestic consumers, such as the al-Andulusia mall that opened in July.
The $4 million, three-story shopping center, is a humble operation by global standards. It has a large supermarket and an assortment of clothing and shoe shops. The third floor — a future cinema — hasn’t opened yet.
For many Gazans, whose lives have stalled in fighting and the blockade, the novelty is apparent.
On a recent visit to the al-Andalusia mall, two women clutched the escalator’s rubber grip, giggling and shrieking as they rode up to the second floor. Another woman stared at the escalator in fright, unsure how to get on.
At another newly constructed area, parents sip coffee as their children play on swings at a specially built private play garden.
A series of small, beachside bungalows in Gaza City hug the shore where the well-off can spend summer days. Cafes and gift shops line the summer getaway. White tents are strewn on the sand. Entrance costs about $3 a person, unaffordable for most large Gaza families.
“I feel like our society has been divided,” said Siham Liqtati, whose taxi driver husband earns $8 a day to support their family of six.
“There are those who are high up, and the rest of us are nothing,” she lamented.
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Comments (44)
MUDFLAPS
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:39pmHamas… I always thought it had to much garlic.
Report Post »eramthgin
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 3:35pmThis has been going on since 1947. Did people think Arafat earned those millions.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 4:48pmQuick…send a flotilla with essential aid. It‘s been well known that Hamas intercepts aid money to Gaza and uses it to purchase weapons and line it’s pockets. But even with this blatant usurpation of aid to people in Gaza..will Palestians denounce Hamas? Nope..they’re one of the dumbest cultures on the planet. This is why they danced in the streets as the towers fell in New York…just dumb people.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 4:55pmThis is why Yasser Arafat could wear Harrods suits while his people starved…and be given a Nobel Peace Prize.
Report Post »Ready2Rumble
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:48pmYou stole my thunder Avenger ;)!
Then again, if there is an emerging middle class in Palestine which is clawing its way out of poverty through honest hard work, their fellow citizens ought to be emulating their example instead of envying them. Guys, you can do a lot for yourselves if you bother to put down your AK-47s, RPGs, and rockets.
Report Post »conservativecalifornian
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:23pmCome to Irvine Spectrum any evening of the week, and you will find the same scene, except there are hundreds of muslims spending thousands of dollars. Ask the merchants, they love it!
Report Post »discus02
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 1:28pmOf course Hamas buys guns and lives in the lap of luxury while the rest beg for food. The stupid world feeds these groups money and the poor get zilch.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 11:29amMuslims taking advantage of other muslims? Say it ain’t so! I thought only the U.S. and Israel did that, or so their leaders tell them.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 1:24pmIn islamic theology, if allah wants you poor, you are poor and there is no way out. Allah sends tsunamis to islamic countries in punishment, i.e., Indonesia. No self-respecting muslim will lift a finger to help those whom allah has punished.
Folks, this is why only the West helps muslim majority countries when they are hit by catastrophes. This is why the rich Arabs don’t lend so much as a dinar!
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 11:23amI believe this to be true, Hamas is “milking” the people dry and because of the bigotry of many Palestinians, they easily transfer blame for the sad state of affairs to Israel. In any autocratic society the people always come last and the wealth of their nations go to the rulers………. America changed that and is one of the primary reason we are hated across the world by the jealous and envious, which includes, most unfortunately, many within this country.
Report Post »rightwinglefty
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:38amThe so called “activist” leaders always grow rich and fat from their minions. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, and dare I say Glenn Beck.
Report Post »HKS
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 10:48amAbsolutely, mouth always equal money. If you can run that mouth you will get rich or dead, and sometimes both.
Report Post »co2dog
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 5:37pmAt least Beck is getting rich from money paid by people who want his products and services. Unlike, Sharpton, Jackson, and all the other leaches. If you don’t want to pay Beck, you don’t have to. However, you and I are paying for those other blood suckers through taxes and black-mailing businesses.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:26amIs Barry really over in Gaza, ?? The DEMOCRAT (Chicago) style of demonizing the rich has come full circle.
Report Post »db321
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:34amA better Question would be – Is Obama Growing Rich on the backs of Blacks and Illegals. God help us – if he is elected for a 2nd term – he will cut all support for the Poor and Illegals in America.
Report Post »weeblewacker1
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 11:17amnooo,once again,it is the rethugs getting rich off the poor,just like they always have. just watch what they will do when it comes to extending the pay-roll tax cut for the working poor.how much you wanna bet they will not go along with it,even though they always say “no tax increase’s for anybody”! when they say anybody they mean only there rich self’s and friends,screw the people that have to actually work for a living.wake up people,everybody that lives in the U.S. pays taxs one way or the other,no matter what rethugs tell you.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 11:37amWEE BULL Fed Income Taxes are paid by Approx 53% of eligible contributors. Everybody pays the Fuel, Phone, Heating Oil, Electric, Boat, Auto, Etc Taxes from both the Fed and State Government Thieves. In Konnecticut we pay the HIGHEST State Gasoline Taxes 49.6 Cents Per Gallon and the standard 18.4 Cents Per Gallon Federal Tax. All while the Oil Company’s are making a little over TWO Yes 2 Cents Per Gallon PROFIT
Report Post »hiteker
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:15amAhhh the left at it’s best. Use the poor to elevate yourself. Unfortunately for the elite Palestinians they don’t have the money to keep the poor down like the US. In our country the right makes the money, and the left steals it on the poor to keep electing the left. We have the complete package. The package is falling apart for the left in the US. This is just another example of the hippocratic left.
Report Post »srfnvet
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 8:43amSomebody explain why the 2 women in the first shot are clothes shopping when all they wear are sheets?
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:29amAll the kids are being fitted for designer suicide vests. It’s the rage in Gaza.
Report Post »olddog
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 8:39amYes they keep their sheeple the palestinians focused on violence and hamas hauls the loot out the back door. Just like the ultra rich lefties in America doing the same thing..Bahh Bahh Bahh
Report Post »cloudsofwar
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 8:24amcorruption doesn’t touch us…..LOL
Report Post »hempstead1944
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 8:18amDuh?
Report Post »Romanticpoet
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 8:11amIs this an illustration of Union elitists (leaders/bosses/president) vs. its members? Think about that.
OR
Marxism/totalitarianism in its early stages?
Report Post »circleDwagons
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 7:30amgovernments are corrupt, how is it that our leaders leave office worth multi times more than when they started. the pals should clean house, if they want freedom and independece. i of course could and do say the same for the “african americans” dictators and rabble rousers around the world should have a deep peaceful day
Report Post »cloudsofwar
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 8:18amHarry Reid said he made some good investments and he hasn’t left yet.
Report Post »cassandra
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 7:28amhamas will give their people just enough to live on not prosper that way they will maintain their power over the people kinda sounds like wellfare/democrates do to our people control,control,control
Report Post »bobbie22
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 7:13amFreedom, great idea send the union thugs over there to unionize there business
Report Post »searching for the Truth
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:57amThat’s because the mannequins have lost their heads.
Report Post »searching for the Truth
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 7:05amWake up! Get yourself some coffee. Remember ” He -brews.”
Report Post »TxMadMac
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:41amI’ve been looking all over the place……. I just can’t seem to find any pity for these people ! They brought it all on themselves. And just like the true cowards the progressives & liberals are, they do nothing to stop the terrorism. wawawawa
Report Post »freedomofspeech
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:30amno worry the unions will be over there to take on Hammas,
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:07amHammas before they got political power, gave to the poor and needy…that is how they got their support from the people to get into power…I don’t know if that has changed or not…did anyone dig down deeper? Like Obama they have to maintain their base. LOL
Some of these articles just don’t far enough, like who are they employing? And do they still give to the needy…tent cafe’s have been around for many years. I’ve been to a few in Jordan (Petra), love the Turkish coffee but watch your wallet, thieves abound.
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:16amI wonder how long ago Israel was planned to be a nation ?
The implementation of Christian Zionism.
This entry is not about the former United States Presidents, but rather a different George Bush, who lived from 1796 to 1859. He is the great-grand uncle of George H. W. Bush. In the 19th century, George Bush was a prominent American biblical scholar, pastor, abolitionist and Christian Restorationist. Christian Restorationism is a movement with the goal of returning the Jewish population to the Holy Land. It was a popular theme in the 19th century. The idea includes a set of political and religious motivations for the habitation of Jews in the area around Israel. In the context, it is suggested that Jews shall achieve national independence in the Land of Israel, and return to Judea, as prophesied in the Bible. The book continues to discuss the Second Coming of Christ, which is an attitude known as Christian Zionism.
In 1844, George Bush, who was a professor of Hebrew at New York University, published a book titled The Dry Bones of Israel Revived. In the text he denounced “the thralldom and oppression which has so long ground them (the Jews) to the dust,” and called for the elevation of the Jews to a rank of honorable repute among the nations of Earth. The majority of controversy surrounding George Bush has come as the result of his first book, titled The Life of Mohammed: Founder of the Religion of Islam, and of the Empire of the Saracens. The book was the first Ame
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 8:12am@Tower7,
Report Post »Way before any Bush. Except of course maybe the burning bush.
“called for the elevation of the Jews to a rank of honorable repute among the nations of Earth.”
GOD did that a looooong time ago.
jeffile
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 12:02pmSorry but the restoration of Israel was predicted before the birth of Christ. The great grand-uncle of Bush was no more than one of many who were the tools of God.
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 5:51amIs the Pope Catholic?
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:17amor Demonic New World Order Alien ?
Report Post »megansmom
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 5:20amClass warfare on the Gaza strip? Say it isn’t so
Report Post »Maybe they’ll fight amongst themselves and leave Isreal alone for awhile.
DiscoDave
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 5:15amYou betcha! Lol.
You must leverage the poor.
Unfortunately it goes both ways. The obvious flaw in trying to gain an advantage of the fact that people are suffering is the fact that they are indeed suffering.
“Some 150 of Gaza’s estimated 700 tunnels are solely used for raw materials, said two tunnel traders who requested anonymity because they dodge Hamas taxes.”
Imagine that… Non-Americans that don’t want to be taxed to death by a government. (These folks are obviously Tea Party and can go straight to hell).
-Dave
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 5:51amDisco Dave That is funny…….. I feel sure we will get a lot of milage out of that Declaration.
“The Tea Party Can go straight to Hell”……….. We will be hearing it more and more. Maybe this
Report Post »will be part of their new campaign slogan…..lol
ZABO
Posted on August 23, 2011 at 5:12amof course they are. HAMAS is like the DEMOCRAT party here. it’s more like little people make the dems bigger people. it’s just that simple. remember all that counts is that vote.
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