| The Paleos haven't hit bottom yet. When they can't afford smokes in any way, they'll be close. |
Although one kg of tobacco costs NIS 120 in comparison to NIS 36 few months ago, the unrolled tobacco, an Egyptian product, remains the cheapest on the market today.
All of a sudden Gaza has become the most expensive place on earth for tobacco, and today cigarettes are more expensive than shrimps and caviar, Abu Nadi says, while cupping his hand over a match to light his rolled cigarette.
Prices soared after the deposed Hamas government decided to tax cigarettes, resulting in the price of a packet of cigarettes climbing from NIS 100 to NIS 200. By charging 60 to 70 percent tax on the second packet, cigarettes have become an excellent source of income for Hamas, which has found itself completely isolated in Gaza by Israel and the outside world since taking over the coastal enclave last June.
| Have to have some way of affording guns and ammo. |
“Those dodgy merchants are exploiting smokers and taking advantage of the situation,” says Ahmad Na’asan, a long-time smoker and one of those suffering from the jump in prices. Like thousands of men in Gaza, Na’asan worked in construction in Tel Aviv for more than 10 years before Israel closed all Gaza exits in 2000. Now he is unemployed. “I am spending the day roaming the streets looking for work… but I know that there is neither work nor life here.”
| Apparently Na'asan doesn't draw the proper conclusion. |
Furthermore, up to 75% of the 3,900 factories operating in Gaza on the eve of the closure of the commercial terminal have had to cease production, according to the Palestinian Federation of Industry. Unable to import raw materials or export finished products, the factory closures are forcing as many as 30,000 more families to rely on daily food handouts to survive.
This situation is creating a generation of isolated and disaffected people. Youths are leaving schools and universities to join militant groups in order to earn money and get assistance for their families.
“People don’t have money even for the bread. Do you know that one kilo of bread costs NIS 12? I have to buy three kilos every day for the family,” Na’asan replies, sealing his words with a strong expletive.
| Apparently Na'asan still doesn't draw the proper conclusion. |
“Listen,” he says, “heavy smokers will continue smoking. I know people who smoke less but very few of them have stopped. But if the prices continue increasing all smokers will quit and Gaza will inevitably become the first non-smoking zone on earth,” Na’asan adds with a cynical smile.
In Gaza people are pessimistic over an imminent solution to the crisis. They strongly believe that only an agreement between Hamas and Fatah on holding early elections can end the stalemate and reunite Gaza with the West Bank. “First there have to be talks and then elections. But until then, I will keep rolling my cigarettes, sealing them with my mouth, and before closing my lips, I will spit on those who destroyed us for their narrow interests," concludes Na’asan before realizing that his cigarette has burned down to the filter, and stubs it on the ground with his shoe.