Decorations and lanterns are absent from the streets of Gaza that were usually prepared by families and institutions in past years. Sadness still hovers around the Gaza Strip which in less than a month sacrificed more than 110 martyrs and thousands of wounded during the Great March of Return.
The signs of joy that used to decorate streets and mosques disappeared and were replaced by photos of martyrs and the remnants of their dreams which were made impossible by the Israeli death machine while the markets seemed empty on the eve of Ramadan. Markets were almost empty except for some shoppers who were buying their essential needs in preparation for the holy month.
Penalties and salaries
Despite the suffering of the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli siege and despite the state of great grief that has taken place in thousands of Palestinian homes in Gaza the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah continues to impose sanctions against thousands of employees refusing to pay their salaries.
This year Ramadan came while public employees have not received full salaries for the first time. A year ago the PA deliberately deducted employees’ salaries by 30-50%. However last month the PA refrained from paying the salaries of its employees except for dozens who received only deducted portions of their salaries.
A year ago Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas imposed punitive measures against the Gaza Strip mainly reducing the amount of electricity deducting 30 to 50% of the salaries of PA employees and forced the retirement of thousands of employees.
No purchase power
The PIC reporter made a tour in the markets of Gaza City where the lack of shoppers and their purchase power described the situation of Gaza. Goods are stacked customers are scarce markets are crowded with customers but their purchase power has fallen to less than half compared to last year.
A number of merchants confirmed that they did not feel the arrival of Ramadan as a general strike was announced during the Great March of Return which saw the fall of more than sixty martyrs last Monday which was followed by a general strike on Tuesday. Today markets are sad and tomorrow Ramadan will start without preparation or readiness.
Some two million Palestinians live in the besieged enclave 80% of them live below the poverty line while the unemployment rate exceeds 46.6% by the beginning of this year as the number of unemployed has exceeded 243000.
Figures obtained by the Palestinian Information Center from the Popular Committee against the Siege indicated that 80% of the population is below the poverty line 50% of people are unemployed and 60% of youths are unemployed. The figures further show that the average income is $2 per capita per day a quarter of a million unemployed and 1.5 million people depend on relief assistance.
