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For Palestinians, this Ramadan is the worst ever http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyID=2006-10-18T201113Z_01_L18902811_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-PALESTINIANS-RAMADAN.xml&WTmodLoc=InDepthNewsHome_C1_%5bFeed%5d-8
Wed Oct 18, 2006
By Dean Yates
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - In all his 40 years as a butcher in the West Bank city of Nablus, Amin Abu Zant cannot recall a Ramadan so grim. Neither can Hasan Naana, a vegetable seller, nor Munder Hindiya, a gold trader. "Look at my shop, it's empty. Life is getting worse and worse," said Abu Zant, 57, gazing at his spotlessly clean shop, hunks of meat hanging off ceiling hooks.
The Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset but celebrate in the evenings with family around the dinner table, has fallen this year at a time when little is going right for the Palestinians.
A Western aid embargo imposed on the Hamas administration has left government wages largely unpaid since March. Fighting between the Hamas Islamist movement and the rival Fatah faction has killed 18 people this month, sparking fears of civil war.
Peace talks with Israel remain a remote prospect, while the Jewish state presses ahead with an offensive in the Gaza Strip to free an abducted soldier and stop militants firing rockets.
Such a joyless Ramadan is being felt most acutely in the shops and markets of Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Merchants are struggling to make sales. Many customers are too poor or too much in debt to buy.
Inside the Old City of Nablus, a maze of cobble stone streets, vegetable seller Naana pulls out a dusty exercise book where he keeps a ledger of customer debts. For one day this week he had noted 10, worth a total of 250 shekels ($58).
"This Ramadan has been worse than any other. Many cannot pay. It's the first time I have seen anything like this," said Naana, 46, still jovial despite the worrying times.
Nearby, gold seller Hindiya, 40, was shutting up early. "This is the worst Ramadan in my life," he said.
GAZA MISERY
Ramadan is a time when Muslims spend money on new clothes for their families, toys for their children and other gifts.
It culminates in feasting during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which this year falls around October 23.
But across Gaza, markets and shops are making few sales.
At a clothes shop in Gaza City, Ghazi Ashour tried to persuade the owner to lower his prices so he could buy some new items for his children. The owner refused.
"I cannot even feed them biscuits ... They can spend the Eid in their school clothes," said Ashour, a father of 13.
"This is not the atmosphere of Eid. It will be a sad day."
Some Palestinians will try anything to earn some money.
Ahmed Abu Rudwan, a member of the security forces, was standing at a market in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis selling clothes. He said he earned 20 shekels a day.
"My children are driving me crazy so I had to work here to get them what they need," Abu Rudwan said.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, the administrative heart of the Palestinian territories, the only merchants doing business are those selling cheap items on sidewalks.
Khaled al-Shaweesh, 61, owner of a clothing shop, said recent partial salary payments to low income government workers had made little difference.
"They get partial salary payments but then which debt do they pay back first: the butcher, the grocer, the overdue bills, education fees, you name it. People do not have money to eat. Do you expect them to buy clothes?" said Shaweesh.
As he spoke, a woman came in and asked for a shirt. Before Shaweesh gave her one to look at, she asked for the price. He said 80 shekels. The woman left without saying anything.
($ 1 = 4.27 shekels)
(With additional reporting by Atef Sa'ad in Nablus, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)
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