The commercial activity in the famous Khan Al-Tujjar Market in Nablus does not look as usual as the market lacks customers with merchants attributing the decline in shoppers to the difficult living conditions.
Khan Al-Tujjar known as the covered market is one of the oldest and most famous markets in Nablus in the northern West Bank.
Empty pockets
“Winter is coming we are showing winter goods but few shoppers come” says a clothing vendor to our correspondent.
In his Nabuls dialect he added: “People have empty pockets there is no work and the government introduces a new tax every day and recently they introduced the unfair Social Security Law.”
“The Khan seems almost empty although it is usually packed with shoppers” says Abu Saleh a merchant at the Khan. “Days pass without making any profit. My shop provides sustenance for three families and the situation is going from bad to worse” he added.
“This is one of the most popular markets in Nablus and even the West Bank and tourists and shoppers visit the market when they visit Nablus” he said adding: “There are a few shoppers looking for their simple and necessary needs.”
He stressed the existence of a great responsibility on the official authorities in the city represented by the PA asking: “Where is encouraging tourism and bringing to the Old Town Palestinian and foreign tourists (which the PA claimed will do)?”
He pointed out that sellers depended on their sales on Saturday; where workers and Palestinians from 1948 occupied Palestine come to the market and do their shopping.
Haj Naji a porter notes that: “The market is empty except for a few people in the city there are no shoppers. Days pass without asking me to carry goods to a shopper or a merchant due to the poor economic situation in the Khan Market which is the same in the rest of the city’s markets.”
A vegetable vendor at the vegetable market in the center of Nablus told our correspondent: “Recently there has been a sales drop. The bad weather and the economic situation of citizens are having a noticeable impact on the markets.”
“There is resentment among citizens fears after raising the prices of transportation talk about the implementation of the Social Security Law and other measures taken by the government in the West Bank” he noted calling for taking the living conditions of citizens into account especially ordinary people.
PA policies
Issam Nazzal one of the shoppers told the PIC: “A month and a half ago we bought the needs of schools and Eid al-Adha and before that we bought the needs of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.”
“The situation is difficult for everyone and this is reflected on the markets.”
Nazzal is an accountant at a private company. He says he does another part time job so he can meet his family’s needs.
“Today I bought some necessary winter clothes for the family” Nazzal said.
“Life is difficult there is a rise in prices and the Social Security Law will take part of our monthly salary” he continued.
“The government will take from us for the interest of the Social Security Fund at the expense of our family” he added.
Dr. Nael Mousa lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at An-Najah University told our correspondent: “The recession in the Palestinian markets was not the result of recent months but had been there since the beginning of the year.”
He attributed this to the turbulent political situation which negatively impact the economy.
He stressed that “the policies of the Palestinian Authority based on taxes and the imposition of new laws including the Social Security Law negatively affected the economic situation.”
