Palestinians Still Feel The Squeeze Of The Restrictions On Gaza

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now in the Gaza Strip last week, Israeli authorities temporarily closed two border crossings. Many supplies for Gaza pass through Israel. Israel had agreed to accelerate the flow of those goods as part of a ceasefire reached last fall with Hama, which runs Gaza, but Gazans say they are still under siege. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

LARRY ABRAMSON, BYLINE: The streets of Gaza are busy, but they're also crumbling. Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel has maintained tight limits on shipments of anything that could be used for military purposes. That includes basic building materials that could be used for bunkers and rocket launching sites. Ask businessman Ali Abdel Aal what's the toughest thing for him to find.

ALI ABDEL AAL: (Through translator) So that's cement and the gravels.

ABRAMSON: Abdel Aal runs a busy shop selling building supplies in Gaza City. He says tunnels from Egypt help get around the Israeli restrictions. But even that route is getting pinched. Egypt has started flooding these illegal pathways with water, even with sewage. Two years ago, Israel shut down a freight crossing close to Gaza City. That means the only legitimate route Abdel Aal can depend on is Kerem Shalom, an hour away from his shop.

AAL: (Through translator) Because now they are sending it from Kerem Shalom and from Kerem Shalom we have to bring it down to Gaza, which costs too much for transportation.

ABRAMSON: Israeli authorities insist that since the November ceasefire, they have added item after item to the list of goods they will permit into Gaza. Lieutenant Colonel Avi Shalev with the Israeli army says over 300 trucks a day pass through Kerem Shalom.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL AVI SHALEV: There is no shortage of building materials in the Gaza Strip. There is a building boom in Gaza.

ABRAMSON: And it's true, you can see buildings going up all over Gaza. At this construction site in Gaza City, cement is pumped up to a rooftop where workers peer down, wearing no hard hats or lifelines. But many here say all this activity can't keep up with Gaza's rapid population growth, or with the need to replace buildings destroyed in Israeli military operations.

Adnan abu Hasna with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency says he is struggling to provide homes for refugees from past conflicts.

ADNAN ABU HASNA: We are building to people who their shelters have been destroyed in 2001 and 2002.

ABRAMSON: Here's an example - in the southern Gaza Strip, a huge housing project financed by the Saudi government. Waji el Jebaley, a 29-year-old accountant, is moving into the shiny new development with his family. They lost their house in a military operation 10 years ago. Back then they asked the U.N. for space for six people. Now he and his brothers are married with kids.

WAJI EL JEBALEY: (Through translator) Three brothers, three wives, that's six. His mother, that's seven. Ten babies, that's 17 in this house, 17 members.

ABRAMSON: There's one effect of the blockade that you can't see, unless you look into people's pockets. The tightening of the borders to Israel and to Egypt has also made it very difficult for local businesses to export. Gaza used to be a big agricultural producer. Now Gazan farmers like Basel Abu Haloob say they're operating at a loss. Abu Haloob is not allowed to export to Israel or to the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

BASEL ABU HALOOB: (Through translator) No. I'm not dreaming about selling to Israel. Let them allow us to export to West Bank. The market here in Gaza, it's very cheap. I sell it beneath the cost. It's like three shekels per kilo.

ABRAMSON: Under a dollar for two pounds of strawberries. They can cost three times that much in Israeli cities. And that, of course, is the point of the Israeli sanctions, to starve this Hamas-run territory of resources. Larry Abramson, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.