Palestinians celebrate Eid al-Fittr holiday in gloom

Samir Qalaja, 13, and his 12-year-old cousin Mohamed were sitting outside their home in Gaza City's Zeitoon neighborhood and worrying about whether they could receive the customary gifts from their parents for this year's Eid al- Fittr holiday which started tomorrow.

"I want to get some money from my father to buy a toy, but the problem is that I don't know if my father has money to give me this year," Mohamed said to Samir as they talking about their plans for the three-day Eid al-Fittr, or the holidays of breaking the fast in Ramadan.

Usually, in the morning of the first day of the Eid, fathers and their children older than five years get up very early, dressing their new clothes, and then go to the mosque for the Eid prayers.

After prayers, families visit each others, while children spend the day playing with toys and visiting children's parks and gardens.

However, different from children in other Arab and Muslim countries, many Palestinian children might not get their gifts, nor play in the park, during this year's Eid al-Fittr holiday, as their parents are tugging to make a hard living in a serious financial crisis in the Palestinian territories, especially in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians in the poor Gaza enclave have been striving over the past few months to get through a triplex crisis in politics, economy and security due to an international siege on the Palestinian territories.

"I was affected by the economic situation, especially on the eve of the Eid," says Mohammed al-Masri, who owns a small clothing store in downtown Gaza.

He said that the sales climax usually comes in the last week of Ramadan, but this year he sold only as half as he used to sell "in the years of welfare."

"The demand for new clothes was certainly low as the government employees had not been paid for nine months," al-Masri said in a desperate voice.

The life for Abdel Rahim Zayoud, a merchant who sells raw textile in Gaza, is bad also.

He complained to Xinhua reporter that "There is no economy at all. The embargo is ongoing. Israeli operations are continuing and there are no salaries. The world is gloomy. Faces are desperate and life is shaking."

The consuming power in the Palestinian territories is too weak to appease the Palestinian businessmen because the Palestinians, the unpaid government employees in particular, have too little money to spend even in the important religious holiday.

Abu Eyad, a teacher working for a public school, like all other employees, has not been paid regularly or complete salary for nine months.

He told Xinhua report that he has no money to buy new clothes for his children who always ask him when they can get their new clothes.

"We can't call it Eid, this is not Eid," Abu Eyad said with a deep sigh.

The employees' feelings were mixed with pity and anger after hearsay circulated last night in Gaza that the government withheld a prepayment for every employee.

Hundreds of the employees lined up in front of ATM machines, hoping to get some of their overdue payments, but all was in vain.

Yousef Ouda, a 37-year-old employee and a father of four, shouted with anger as he left the ATM machine. "When I inserted my card into the machine, I found nothing in my account."

Since the new government was formed by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in late March, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been flaring.

Israel tightened its security measures imposed on the Gaza Strip and kept all crossings and commercial terminals closedown.

In addition, the international community, mainly donor nations for the Palestinians, boycotted the Hamas-led government by cutting off any financial aid to the Hamas-led government.

As a result, a total of 165,000 civil servants have not received their full salaries for nine months from the government.

Samir's father, a nurse working for a public hospital, has to lodge in his brother's house along with his family, because he was unable to pay for the house rent anymore.

"My brother Mahmoud and his family live with us temporarily because we haven't got our salaries paid for several months and all what we get is just partial advanced payments," said Mohamed's father Abdallah Qalaja, who is a teacher also work for government.

The economic situation and the internal conflicts are the most worrying subjects for the people living in Gaza, who believed that more economic deterioration would lead to more violence and chaos.

"Everything is in the hands of Hamas. If Hamas accepts the peace initiatives, the signed agreements and the international resolutions, our suffering would immediately end," Abdallah said wishfully.

Source: Xinhua