L'économie gazaouie paralysée par le blocus israélien

Benjamin Barhe, Le Monde, 28/08/07. Des centaines de palettes de bouteilles de boissons gazeuses sont entreposées sous l'immense hangar de l'usine Pepsi Cola, à Jabaliya, dans le nord de la bande de Gaza. En temps normal, ces stocks sont écoulés en quelques heures auprès des épiceries du mince territoire palestinien. Mais depuis deux mois et demi, aucun camion de livraison n'est sorti du hangar, car les bouteilles sont vides. Le blocus de la bande de Gaza imposé par l'armée israélienne à la suite du coup de force du Hamas, le 14 juin, a en effet épuisé les réserves de l'usine en dioxyde de carbone (CO₂). Faute de ce gaz nécessaire à la confection de toute boisson à bulles, les bouteilles n'ont pas pu être remplies.

J'ai le sucre, les étiquettes, les bouteilles, les composants chimiques, les bouchons et les cartons, fulmine Mohamed Yazegi, le patron de cette entreprise familiale, ouverte en 1960. L'armée israélienne sait très bien qu'avec un seul container de CO₂, je pourrais me remettre à travailler pendant deux semaines. Mais parce que les dirigeants israéliens sont décidés à mettre le Hamas à genoux, ils refusent de laisser rentrer mon gaz. J'ai dû licencier 200 de mes employés."

"PUNITION COLLECTIVE"

Le patron de Pepsi Cola n'est pas le seul dans ce cas-là. Du fait de la fermeture du terminal de Karni, l'épine dorsale de l'économie gazaouie par où transitent en temps normal les importations et les exportations palestiniennes, près de 85 % des entreprises ont cessé de fonctionner. Selon l'agence de promotion du commerce Paltrade, 70 000 Palestiniens ont perdu leur emploi, qui faisait vivre plus d'un tiers de million d'habitants.

Soucieux d'éviter les contrecoups médiatiques d'une pénurie alimentaire, le gouvernement israélien laisse passer à intervalles réguliers des convois de nourriture et de produits de première nécessité par le point de passage de Sufa, au sud de Karni. En revanche, toute exportation demeure impossible, de même que l'importation de matières premières et de marchandises à usage industriel.

Le premier ministre israélien, Ehoud Olmert, justifie cette politique par la fuite des forces de sécurité et des employés affectés à Karni, dans la foulée de la victoire militaire du Hamas. En leur absence et compte tenu du fait qu'Israël refuse tout contact avec les islamistes, le terminal, dixit la version officielle, est condamné à rester fermé. Mais selon l'organisation israélienne de défense des droits de l'homme Gisha, l'Etat juif est tenu d'assurer le bien-être de la population de Gaza dans la mesure où le droit international considère toujours qu'il "occupe" ce territoire. "Israël veut atteindre des objectifs politiques, à savoir le renversement du Hamas, en exerçant une pression sur 1,4 million d'hommes, de femmes et d'enfants, explique Sari Bashi, le directeur de Gisha. Il s'agit d'une punition collective, qui viole le droit humanitaire international et contredit les intérêts d'Israël."

L'un des secteurs les plus touchés est le BTP. Privé de gravier et de ciment, tous les chantiers en cours ont été gelés. "Le premier mois, j'ai payé mes ouvriers ; le deuxième, je les ai mis en vacances ; le troisième, je les ai licenciés, explique Rafiq Hassouna, l'entrepreneur numéro un de la bande de Gaza. Il ne me reste qu'une secrétaire et un planton pour me faire le café." Parmi ses contrats arrêtés figurent la rénovation de la route Salaheddin, l'axe principal de la bande de Gaza, ainsi qu'un hôpital pour la réhabilitation des handicapés.

A demi-mot, certains hommes d'affaires palestiniens accusent le président palestinien Mahmoud Abbas d'appuyer le bouclage israélien pour forcer le Hamas à lui rendre le pouvoir. "Il est clair que le Fatah ne fait pas tout ce qu'il peut pour résoudre la crise, dit M. Hassouna. Avec toutes les connexions qu'il a en Israël, Salam Fayad (le premier ministre palestinien) pourrait nous aider davantage."

Une thèse démentie par un conseiller du président Abbas. "Nous ne sommes même pas capables d'obtenir la levée d'un simple check-point en Cisjordanie, dit-il. Comment pourrions-nous obliger Israël à rouvrir la bande de Gaza ?" Pour débloquer la situation, diverses propositions sont à l'étude, destinées à confier le contrôle de Karni côté palestinien à une agence de sécurité privée étrangère.

Pour Mohamed Yazegi, l'urgence n'est pas seulement économique. "Les ouvriers que j'ai licenciés sont des proies faciles pour tous les extrémistes. Le Hamas a déjà proposé à certains d'entre eux de nettoyer les rues pour 100 dollars (73 euros) par mois. Bientôt, à la place d'un balai, il leur donnera un kalachnikov."

Benjamin Barthe

Article paru dans l'édition du 28.08.07.

Palestine since Gaza 'disengagement'

Jake Hess, ZNet, 24/08/07. This month marks the two-year anniversary of Israel's 'disengagement' from the Gaza Strip. Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School wrote the following in September, 2005: "Israel's successful evacuation of the Gaza Strip demonstrates the desire and ability of the Israeli government to make and implement tough decisions necessary for a pragmatic peace based on a two-state solution."[1]

Dershowitz is right. Although his article misrepresents the Israeli government's intentions as benign, the Gaza 'disengagement' can only be understood as the first step in Israel's long-term objective of imposing what they call a 'two-state solution' on the Palestinians. Many analysts sympathetic to the Palestinian cause have written, correctly, that the Gaza withdrawal has coincided with settlement expansion in the West Bank. Few, however, define the political endgame Israel is moving toward.

The purpose of this article is to outline, briefly, the long-term objectives of the 'disengagement', to show how they've been implemented in the West Bank during last couple of years, and to describe current conditions in Gaza. Doing so can help provide a framework for interpreting the recent and upcoming diplomatic summits in the region, including the renewed talk of moving toward a final settlement.[2]

Ephraim Sneh, a member of the Israeli Labor Party who has held several senior posts in the Israeli military and government, has summarized the purposes of the 'disengagement' plan. "The goal is to perpetuate Israeli control in most of the West Bank, and to repel any internal or external pressure for a different political solution," he writes. When the construction projects are complete, "The Palestinians will be left with seven enclaves connected by special highways for their use", and Israel will be left in control of eighty percent of historic Palestine.[3] The enclaves created by the Wall and settlements will, if the Sharonists have their way, form the basis of a Palestinian "state".

Sneh's calculations jibe with Sharon's past announcements that he would tolerate a Palestinian "state" on 42% of the West Bank.[4] (The 42% figure is most likely based on the percentage of land Palestinians were given full or partial control over during the Oslo years). In December 2004, Zalman Shoval, then a senior advisor to Sharon, told The Boston Globe that "Sharon wants to wait until the [West Bank Wall] is completed" before negotiations on Palestinian independence can begin. "That way, [the Wall] would be more or less a line of reference for negotiations on the final border" of a Palestinian state, consisting of half the West Bank.[5]

Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli Prime Minister, has said that he is committed to the same goals as his predecessor, including use of the Wall to designate Israel's "final borders."[6] If the government views the borders as permanent for Israel, of course, then they must also be permanent for their Palestinian neighbors and any future "state".

This is a useful backdrop against which to interpret current Israeli activities in the West Bank.

Presently, some 450,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank.[7] Since the Gaza 'disengagement', their overall population has continued to expand some three times as fast as that of cities in Israel proper.[8] In the first half of 2005, the year the 'disengagement' was carried out, "there was a twenty-eight percent increase in settlement housing starts compared to the same period in 2004", according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.[9] The leading Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, recently reported on a "population boom" in non-East Jerusalem settlements, resulting in a 5.45% growth rate for the colonies in 2006.[10] Currently, three thousand new housing units are under construction in the West Bank.[11]

The two major documents driving Likud/Kadima settlement policy, to which Olmert is an heir, have historically been the Drobless Plan and the Sharon Plan. Both define the objective of settlements as to incorporate Palestinian land into Israel and to defeat the possibility of viable Palestinian statehood by fragmenting the West Bank into isolated chunks. According to the Drobless Plan, "The best and most effective way to remove any shred of doubt regarding [Israel's] intention to hold Judea and Samaria [i.e., the West Bank] forever is a rapid settlement drive in these areas."[12]

As Minister of Agriculture in the first Likud government, in 1977, Ariel Sharon said of the settlements: "We have to physically dominate the entire West Bank….We have to establish wedges of Israeli/Jewish settlement between centers of concentrations of Arabs on either side of the green line [i.e., the border between the West Bank and Israel]... And we have to make physically impossible the creation of any territorial contiguity on the part of the Palestinians."[13]

In a recent report, Amnesty International writes: "By building a network of settlements and a network of 'bypass' roads around all the Palestinian towns and villages, Israel has removed the possibility of Palestinian territorial contiguity in the West Bank…and ensured effective control of the entire [area] – and of the lives of more than two million Palestinians who live there." This is part of what they describe as "Israel's policy of dividing the Occupied Palestinian Territories into disconnected and non-viable fragments", which "continues to be implemented at a growing pace."[14]

In a major May 2002 report on Israeli settlement policy, "Land Grab", the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem writes: "The drastic change that Israel has made in the map of the West Bank prevents any real possibility for the establishment of an independent, viable Palestinian state as part of the Palestinians' right to self-determination" (p.133).

Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the Wall, from the standpoint of Palestinian survival, is its path around greater Jerusalem. Under the projected route, Human Rights Watch argues, the last remaining land corridor connecting the northern and southern West Bank – an area known as "E-1" – will be surrounded and effectively annexed to Israel, thus cutting the West Bank into two pieces.[15] East Jerusalem – the historic center of Palestinian economic, cultural, and social life – will be isolated and virtually inaccessible from the rest of the West Bank, resulting in immeasurable hardship for Palestinians as a result.[16]

The Israeli settlement monitoring organization Peace Now has also strongly argued against building settlements in E-1, for similar reasons. They agree that doing so would cut the West Bank in half, and "sever access to East Jerusalem for Palestinians in the West Bank, and sever access to the West Bank for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem." "Both of these situations", they write, "are antithetical to the achievement of any real, durable peace agreement and the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state". They assert that "No serious analyst would support" the assumption that "Israeli-Palestinian peace and a two-state solution are possible without East Jerusalem being contiguous with and part of a Palestinian state."[17] Although the Israeli government has not yet begun construction of settlements in E-1, they certainly intend to surround the area with the Wall,[18] so the effects will be the same.

B'Tselem contends: "The construction of the Separation Barrier is the final step in the almost-completely isolation of East Jerusalem. It finalizes the division of the West Bank into easily controlled portions, and renders social, commercial and family life untenable for Palestinians in Jerusalem and its environs", dealing a "further blow to any chance of resolving the conflict through negotiations and agreement."[19]

Israel is currently building a road which is said to ensure territorial contiguity for Palestinian after completion of the Wall. Yet, even Martin Indyk – a former AIPAC employee and one-time senior advisor to the Clinton administration – argues that Israel should give E-1 to the Palestinians. "E-1 is a critical issue in maintaining the territorial integrity and contiguity of the West Bank with East Jerusalem – it's the only place where it's possible to do that", he recently told the New York Times.[20]

Meanwhile, two years after the 'disengagement', Gaza is "under the effective control of Israel" as a "sealed-off, imprisoned, and occupied territory", in the words of the UN's Special Rapporteur on human rights in Palestine.[21]

According to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, Israel controls Gaza's "air and sea space, movement between Gaza and the West Bank (also via neighboring countries), the population registry, family unification, and the crossing of goods to and from Gaza…Also, residents of Gaza rely solely on Israel for its supply of fuel, electricity, and gas."[22]

Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, an Israeli organization, asserts that "Israeli control over the lives of Gaza residents remains constant", including the ability to control all imports and exports by virtue of its ability to "close all crossings into Gaza".[23] Put simply, Gaza is still occupied, and Israel therefore retains obligations to its residents under the Hague Regulations and Fourth Geneva Convention, Gisha says. Human Rights Watch agrees: "Under international humanitarian law, Gaza remains occupied, and Israel retains its responsibilities for the welfare of Gaza residents."[24]

Given these facts, it's tempting to say that nothing's changed in Gaza since the 'disengagement'. Yet, things have changed; by many indicators, the humanitarian situation there is worse than it has ever been. The disaster has emerged as a consequence of Israel's withholding of tax revenues to the PA, the boycott of the same institution by international governments, and the imposition of increased movement restrictions in the occupied territories.

Human Rights Watch writes that, in 2006, "The closure of Gaza was more complete than at any time since the outbreak of the intifada in 2000, with the Rafah international border, Erez crossing, and other crossings into Israel designed for the transport of goods closed entirely or opened only irregularly, with disastrous effects on Gazan exports and imports."[25]

Amnesty International writes: "The extent of the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for most of 2006 has been unprecedented…the long blockade of [Karni commercial crossing] halted the export of Palestinian goods, causing waste of perishable agricultural exports and a loss of markets for these and other exports. The blockade resulted in the closure of 920 small factories, which in December 2005 employed 25,500 workers, as they were no longer able to export their products."[26]

According to Gisha, Israel's "administrative control of civilian life has intensified since the completion of Israel's disengagement plan", and "Israeli actions since September 2005…have contributed to an economic and humanitarian crisis in Gaza not seen in the 38 years of Israeli control that preceded the withdrawal of permanent ground troops."[27]

The UN refugee agency working in Occupied Palestine, UNRWA, describes Gaza as "locked down and imprisoned", as "closure of the crossing points for commercial and construction goods…has reached unprecedented levels." The "conditions of siege imposed on Gaza and the ongoing fragmentation of the West Bank are destroying the fabric of Palestinian society". As a result, "Living conditions in Palestinian areas are now deplorable, slumping to levels unseen since 1967. Every aspect of life has been affected; the entire Palestinian population is suffering. The majority are now dependent on food and cash handouts."[28]

Recently, a senior official of the UNRWA warned that, as a consequence of Israeli-imposed closures, "Gaza risks becoming a virtually one hundred percent aid dependent, closed down and isolated community within a matter of months, or even weeks, if the present regime of closure continues",[29] while the World Bank has warned that the territory is in danger of an "irreversible" economic collapse.[30]

As a consequence of what B'Tselem has called a "protracted economic siege that forces on Gazans a life of poverty and want", [31] eighty percent of Gaza's factories have closed down, while the territory's "local private sector, identified by international mediators as the well-spring of Palestinian economic recovery and thereby hopes for peace, faces terminal decline", the Financial Times reports.[32]

Oxfam writes that, as a consequence of the financial boycott of the PA, "the number of Palestinians living in poverty has jumped by 30%, essential services are facing meltdown, and previously unknown levels of factional violence plague Palestinian streets." The number of Palestinians living in deep poverty, on less than 50 cents a day, "nearly doubled in 2006 to 1 million".[33] According to the UNRWA, 87.7% of households in Gaza, and 55.6% in the West Bank, live in poverty.[34] The UN has reported that half the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are starving, or in danger of starving.[35]

Israeli military attacks, like the siege off Gaza, have intensified since 'disengagement'. "Both air and artillery shelling increased throughout the year after the withdrawal," according to the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq.[36] The UNRWA has reported "daily shelling, ground incursions and air operations" into Gaza as part of the "Summer Rains" operation, "causing widespread damage and leading to high numbers of civilian casualties."[37] Following 'disengagement', B'Tselem writes, "Israel increased its attacks on armed Palestinian activists, killing many bystanders in the process."[38]

These killings are part of what Physicians for Human Rights (Israel) describes as "Israel's policy of terrorizing the civilian population" of Gaza, including "the deliberate and conscious killing of civilians."[39]

Israel and its apologists defend these attacks on "security" grounds. Yet, according to Human Rights Watch, there were fewer Palestinian suicide attacks in 2006 than any year since the al-Aqsa intifada began in September 2000. Two Israelis died from the much-publicized qassam missiles launched from Gaza.[40] And although the number of Israelis killed by Palestinians diminished by half, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel tripled, according to Amnesty International.[41] In all, according to B'Tselem, Israel killed 660 Palestinians, and Palestinians killed 23 Israelis, in 2006.[42]

So, two years after the Gaza 'disengagement', this is the tragic reality in Occupied Palestine. Although the Israeli government is attempting to move toward some kind of a 'two state solution', the "pragmatic peace" envisioned by Dershowitz is a long way off.

Jake Hess is a graduate student at Brown University. He welcomes feedback at JakeRHess@gmail.com

Sources

[1] Alan Dershowitz, "This time, peace may be the real thing", Chicago Tribune, September 09, 2005.

[2] See, for example, Samuel Sockol, "Olmert, Abbas, Hold 'Promising' Talks Ahead of Proposed Summit", Washington Post, August 07, 2007.

[3] Ephraim Sneh, "Sharon's plan will perpetuate war", Ha'aretz, October 11, 2004.

[4] Ari Shavit, "Sharon is Sharon is Sharon", Ha'aretz, April 12, 2001.

[5] Dan Ephron and Farah Stockman, "Bush camp cautious on post-Arafat support", The Boston Globe, December 19, 2004 .

[6] Greg Myre, "Olmert Outlines Plans for Israel's Borders", The New York Times, March 10, 2006 .

[7] Amnesty International, "Israel and the Occupied Territories", annual report 2007.

[8] John Dugard, "Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967", UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, January 29, 2007, para. 32.

[9] Cited by Human Rights Watch in "Israel: Expanding Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories", December 27, 2005.

[10] Nadav Shragai, "Ultra-Orthodox Jews deliver a population boom to the West Bank", Ha'aretz online, August 14, 2007 . See also Peace Now, "Summary- Peace Now Settlement/Outpost Report 2006", February 21 2007. Neither report deals with settlements in East Jerusalem.

[11] Tovah Lazaroff, "Peace Now: Israel is building 3,000 new homes in West Bank", The Jerusalem Post, February 22, 2007.

[12] Quoted by B'Tselem in "Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank", May 2002, p. 14. B'Tselem cites: Matitiyahu Drobless, "The Settlement in Judea and Samaria – Strategy, Policy and Program" (in Hebrew), World Zionist Organization, September 1980.

[13] Quoted by Geoffrey Aronson (Director of Research and Publications at the renowned Foundation for Middle East Peace, as well as Editor of its indispensable "Report on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories"), " Sharon's New Map", FMEP, June 19, 2002.

[14] Amnesty International, "Enduring Occupation: Palestinians under siege in the West Bank", June 2007, pgs. 20 and 32.

[15] Human Rights Watch, "Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories", annual report 2006.

[16] See UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "Three Years Later: The Humanitarian Impact of the Barrier Since the International Court of Justice Opinion", July 09, 2007; UNOCHA, "The Humanitarian Impact of the West Bank Barrier on Palestinian Communities: East Jerusalem", June 2007; Human Rights Watch, "Israel: Expanding Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories", December 27, 2005; and Chris McGreal, "Secret British document accuses Israel; FO paper says international laws are being violated and peace jeopardized", The Guardian, November 25, 2005.

[17] Peace Now, "Settlement in Focus: What is E-1?", May 2005.

[18] Maps of the Wall around Jerusalem are available here: (go to page 9) and here:

[19] B'Tselem, "A Wall in Jerusalem: Obstacles to Human Rights in the Holy City", Summer 2006, pgs. 29, 31.

[20] Steven Erlanger, "A Segregated Road in an Already Divided land", The New York Times, August 11, 2007.

[21] Dugard, ibid.

[22] B'Tselem, "The Gaza Strip after disengagement."

[23] Gisha, "Disengaged Occupiers: The Legal Status of Gaza", January 2007. Also see Amnesty International, "Enduring Occupation: Palestinians under siege in the West Bank", June 2007, pg. 31.

[24] Human Rights Watch, "Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories", annual report 2006. Also see HRW's 2007 annual report entry on "Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories" (January 2007).

[25] Human Rights Watch, annual report, January 2007.

[26] Amnesty International, "Israel and the Occupied Territories: Road to Nowhere", December 2006.

[27] Gisha, ibid.

[28] UNRWA, "Emergency Appeal 2007".

[29] UNRWA, "Press Statement by Filippio Grandi, Deputy Commissioner General, UNRWA", Gaza City , August 09, 2007.

[30] "World Bank: Gaza Strip may face 'irreversible' economic collapse", Reuters/Ha'aretz, July 12, 2007.

[31] B'Tselem, "The siege on the Gaza Strip", July 26, 2007.

[32] Harvey Morris, "Industry in Gaza Strip near collapse", Financial Times, August 03, 2007.

[33] Oxfam, "Poverty in Palestine: the human cost of the financial boycott", April 13, 2007, pgs. 1, 3.

[34] UNRWA, "Emergency Appeal 2007", p. 8.

[35] Donald Macintyre, "Half of Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza malnourished", The Independent, February 22, 2007 .

[36] Al-Haq, "One Year after the 'Disengagement': Gaza still Occupied and under Attack", p. 2.

[37] UNRWA, "Emergency Appeal 2007", p. 11.

[38] B'Tselem, "The Gaza Strip after disengagement".

[39] PHR-Israel, "Report: Harm to Children in Gaza", November 08, 2006, pgs. 2, 3.

[40] Human Rights Watch, annual report, 2007, p. 5.

[41] Amnesty International, "Israel and The Occupied Territories", Report 2007.

[42] B'Tselem, "683 people killed in the conflict in 2006", December 28, 2006.

Industry in Gaza Strip near collapse

Harvey Morris in Gaza City, Financial Times, 3/08/07. Israeli restrictions on the flow of goods and raw materials in and out of the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized power there in June have forced the closure of most of the territory’s manufacturing sector, say local businessmen.

Four out of five factories have ceased operations, forcing producers to lay off at least 30,000 workers – on whom they say a third of Gazans depend for their livelihoods.

“Factories are going bankrupt daily but it is never announced,” says Amr Hamad, director of the Palestinian Federation of Industries. “Businessmen just turn off their mobiles and can’t be found.”

Shelves are emptying and the price of staples is rising as increasing numbers of Gazans are thrown out of work. The local private sector, identified by international mediators as the well-spring of Palestinian economic recovery and thereby hopes for peace, meanwhile faces terminal decline.

The meltdown of a manufacturing sector already struggling with years of restrictions and border closures began as soon as Hamas took control of Gaza in mid-June after ousting forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah president.

Israel closed cargo crossings and banned the transfer of shipments bound for Gaza-based companies.

Gaza, the West Bank and Israel all belong to one “customs envelope”. Since mid-June, however, goods bound for companies with a Gaza designator in their value-added tax registration number have been automatically rejected by the Israeli customs computer.

As a result, tons of foreign goods remain stranded at Israel’s Ashdod port, with Gazan importers facing storage charges. Other essential supplies previously cleared for shipment from Israel and the West Bank were also halted.

Israel subsequently loosened the restrictions to allow entry of medical supplies and food. The ban on Gaza’s imports of raw materials has frozen domestic production in most sectors, including food processing.

The Israeli restrictions came into force after Hamas ousted Mr Abbas’s security personnel from positions on the Gaza side of the crossings. Israeli authorities refused to co-ordinate with Gaza’s new rulers, whom they regard as terrorists.

Local businessmen, however, say it is Gazan industry and those who rely on it for jobs and supplies that are suffering, rather than the politicians and militiamen who now run the territory of 1.4m.

Many believe the Israeli restrictions have as much to do with crushing Hamas as with ensuring the security of Israel’s border.

“Israel’s working assumption is that choking Gaza’s economy and closing its borders to the passage of people will achieve the political objectives it wants,” says a report by Gisha [Deleting Gaza Economy from the Map] , an Israeli charity that campaigns for greater freedom of movement for Palestinians.

“This policy is destroying the business sector, creating a new welfare regime in Gaza, and turning growing numbers of Gaza residents into dependants on international welfare agencies and religious charities.”

Local businessmen say that, in addition to the Israeli restrictions, they are caught in the middle of the political struggle between Hamas in Gaza and Mr Abbas’s West Bank regime.

Hamam Rayes, who runs the TransOrient medical supplier in Gaza City, has escaped the worst of the import ban, although shipments have been delayed and his costs have soared.

“But the problem is less getting [medical] goods than deciding who pays for them – Hamas or Abbas,” he says. “Also, the West Bank government has told us not to pay taxes to Hamas. But if you want to do business with a local hospital, Hamas demands you have your tax up-to-date, so you have to do it.”

One consequence of the import-export freeze is near collapse of the textile sector that normally sells 90 per cent of output to the Israeli market. “About $10m [€7.3m, £5m] of finished garments are waiting to be shipped,” says Mr Hamad.

Some 400 containers of furniture, a Gazan specialty, are also stranded. Food processors have stopped work for lack of any one of 33 raw materials – ranging from cacao to carbon dioxide – needed for production.

About 5,000 monthly salary-earners are still in work but most daily industrial wage-earners have been laid off. In Gaza, a wage might feed up to 10 dependants.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007