Post Gazette - In grim Gaza, rise of middle class rankles
Saturday, August 27, 2011
By Diaa Hadid, The Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- A budding middle class in the impoverished Gaza Strip is flaunting its wealth, sipping coffee at gleaming new cafes, shopping for shoes at the new tiny shopping malls and fueling perhaps the most acrimonious grass-roots resentment yet toward the ruling Hamas movement.
This middle class, which has become visible at the same time as a mini-construction boom in this blockaded territory, is celebrating its weddings in opulent halls and vacationing in newly built beach bungalows. That level of consumption may be modest by Western standards, but it's in startling contrast to the grinding poverty of most Gazans, who rely on U.N. food handouts to get by.
Some of the well-off are Hamas loyalists. That rankles many Gaza residents because the conservative Islamic movement gained popularity by tending to the poor -- through charitable aid, education and medical care -- along with its armed struggle against Israel.
"Hamas has become rich at the expense of the people," fumed a 22-year-old seamstress, Nisrine, as she stitched decorative applique onto a dress. She wouldn't disclose her family name, not wanting to be seen criticizing the militant group.
Gaza's Hamas government denies its loyalists have gotten wealthy since the group came to power.
Corruption "doesn't touch us," said Hamas official Yusef Rizka.
But others -- even those close to Hamas -- say the militant group must pay attention.
"There is a nouveau riche that has followed the rise of the government," said Alaa Araj, a former Gaza economic minister and businessman considered close to Hamas. "We must sound the alarm. [Resentment] is growing in Gaza."
Some two-thirds of Gaza's 1.6 million people live in poverty and rely on U.N. food aid. About half the work force is unemployed. Many employed Gazans are paid miserly wages, keeping them struggling.
Hamas has always had a small core of prominently wealthy loyalists. But it appears another small group has seen its fortunes rise since the Hamas came to power, primarily investors and high-level civil servants in Gaza's 24,000-strong bureaucracy.
The territory also has an established middle class of old merchant families, senior aid officials and loyalists of Fatah, a Palestinian group that rivals Hamas. But there's less resentment toward them -- perhaps because they are not in power.
"I feel like our society has been divided," said Siham Liqtati, whose taxi driver husband earns $8 a day to support their family of six.
"There are those who are high up, and the rest of us are nothing," she lamented.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
By Diaa Hadid, The Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- A budding middle class in the impoverished Gaza Strip is flaunting its wealth, sipping coffee at gleaming new cafes, shopping for shoes at the new tiny shopping malls and fueling perhaps the most acrimonious grass-roots resentment yet toward the ruling Hamas movement.
This middle class, which has become visible at the same time as a mini-construction boom in this blockaded territory, is celebrating its weddings in opulent halls and vacationing in newly built beach bungalows. That level of consumption may be modest by Western standards, but it's in startling contrast to the grinding poverty of most Gazans, who rely on U.N. food handouts to get by.
Some of the well-off are Hamas loyalists. That rankles many Gaza residents because the conservative Islamic movement gained popularity by tending to the poor -- through charitable aid, education and medical care -- along with its armed struggle against Israel.
"Hamas has become rich at the expense of the people," fumed a 22-year-old seamstress, Nisrine, as she stitched decorative applique onto a dress. She wouldn't disclose her family name, not wanting to be seen criticizing the militant group.
Gaza's Hamas government denies its loyalists have gotten wealthy since the group came to power.
Corruption "doesn't touch us," said Hamas official Yusef Rizka.
But others -- even those close to Hamas -- say the militant group must pay attention.
"There is a nouveau riche that has followed the rise of the government," said Alaa Araj, a former Gaza economic minister and businessman considered close to Hamas. "We must sound the alarm. [Resentment] is growing in Gaza."
Some two-thirds of Gaza's 1.6 million people live in poverty and rely on U.N. food aid. About half the work force is unemployed. Many employed Gazans are paid miserly wages, keeping them struggling.
Hamas has always had a small core of prominently wealthy loyalists. But it appears another small group has seen its fortunes rise since the Hamas came to power, primarily investors and high-level civil servants in Gaza's 24,000-strong bureaucracy.
The territory also has an established middle class of old merchant families, senior aid officials and loyalists of Fatah, a Palestinian group that rivals Hamas. But there's less resentment toward them -- perhaps because they are not in power.
"I feel like our society has been divided," said Siham Liqtati, whose taxi driver husband earns $8 a day to support their family of six.
"There are those who are high up, and the rest of us are nothing," she lamented.
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