With high spirit Jamal Abu al-Omarin is racing against time to recover his pickle factory which was destroyed by the Israel during its last war on Gaza in summer 2014.
The destruction reflected the bitter reality that faces the industrial and the economic sectors in Palestine because of the endless Israeli crimes.
Complete destruction
Abu al-Omarin told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC): “Israel has destroyed parts of the factory using bulldozers and the other parts were destroyed by rockets and missiles”.
He added: “It was a double loss; they destroyed the factory and about 150 tons of pickles and we lost the pickle season”. He continued: “In spite of the loss which is estimated to be more than 400000 dollars we are trying to resume the work with the least capabilities we have so as to meet the demands of our clients”.
Al-Telbani … Heavy losses
For his part Muhammad al-Telbani the director of al-Awda Factories Co. talked about the huge loss he suffered as a result of the repeated Israeli artillery shelling on his factory.
He said that his loss is estimated to be more than 25 million dollars”. He clarified that all production lines and main sections were totally destroyed” along with warehouses full of ready-to-distribute products.
The implications of such destruction were not limited to the factories’ owners; as about 450 workers were discharged after all main production lines stopped.
For his part Wa’el al-Wadeya whose factory was destroyed by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stressed that his losses are about 7 million dollars.
He noted that his destroyed factory contained scores of different production lines like potato chips juices sweets and biscuits.
Cumulative effects
According to the General Union of Palestinian Industries the IOF destroyed 450 economic and industrial establishments completely and 600 partially causing an estimated loss of a billion dollars.
Ali al-Hayek the chairman of the union pointed out that factories that belong to different important sectors such as food construction chemicals and plastic industries were destroyed.
He underlined that such targeting destroyed what was left of the Palestinian economy after the last two wars and the 8-year siege. He also stressed the importance of compensating the private sector as soon as possible; since these factories were reconstructed with the help of loans.
Owners of the affected factories and establishments are demanding the Palestinian government and the international institutions to officially support them in order to reconstruct these factories and fulfill their developmental role.
