Soccer Dad: The markets of gaza

September 25, 2005

The markets of gaza

In the wake of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza news reports have mentioned two, quite different, markets that have emerged there.

The first market is the surprising one. Brides. As Khaled Abu Toameh of the Jerusalem Post reported:

Many Palestinian men who flocked into Egypt after the IDF evacuated the Philadelphi corridor have seized the opportunity to search for brides. Palestinian sources estimated on Tuesday that at least 100 Egyptian brides were smuggled into the Gaza Strip in the past week.

"Most of the brides came from the Egyptian part of Rafah and the town of Al-Arish, which were invaded by hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the border was left wide open," one source told The Jerusalem Post. He said Palestinian men were encouraged to marry Egyptians mainly because of the low expenses involved, especially the dowry.

"When you compare the situation with the Gaza Strip, it's much cheaper to marry a woman from Egypt," said another source. Some of the men were already married and had decided to take a second or third wife after discovering that Egyptian families were eager to send their daughters to a relatively better life in the Gaza Strip, the source added.

In fact a commenter at CAMERA Snapshots makes the point that this story effectively illustrates that even under "occupation" the Arabs of Gaza fared better than their brethren in Egypt. CAMERA had noted:

But a September 19 Nexis search showed no news coverage of the study�s ranking of Palestinian Arabs under �Israeli occupation� higher than Algerians (103), Syrians (106), Egyptians (119), Moroccans (124) and Yemeni (151).

in rankings of the UN Human Development Report.

The market for brides, then, shows that perhaps there are worse fates than living under Israeli "occupation." (It will be interesting to see where Gaza ranks next year - or in two years - when the effect of Palestinian self-rule can be effectively measured.)

The other market, unfortunately, was for weaponry. It was a case of supply overwhelming demand. Despite Israel's efforts while it controlled Gaza, it couldn't keep out all the arms being smuggled in. (The Egyptian forces were all too willing to look the other way and allow smuggling tunnels to be built.) However Israeli efforts limited the flow of arms into Gaza pushing up their prices. With the Israeli withdrawal and Egyptian failure to keep its side of the bargain by watching the border with Gaza, arms flooded in.

Three arms dealers told the AP their "mules' bought large quantities of assault rifles, pistols and bullets in Egypt, mainly from Bedouin tribesmen, in the three days since Israel's withdrawal. Prices in Egypt are far lower than in Gaza, where during Israeli rule smugglers tunneled under the border to bring in weapons.

Since Monday, black-market weapons prices have plunged in Gaza, the dealers said. An AK-47 assault rifle fell from $2,000 to $1,300, while bullets cost as little $1 compared to four times that.

Egyptian-made pistols that sold for $1,400 are now as little as $180; an Italian pistol costs $400, down from $3,500, said an arms dealer who identified himself only as Khader, for fear of arrest.

Though presumably the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would have led to a decrease in violence against Israel, it appears that it has rather increased the means of those who wish to attack Israel.
Technorati Tags: Gaza, Israel.