On July 17, I was on a market in the Nuseirat camp in the center of Gaza in search of affordable dishes to buy when I saw a crowd of people gather in front of certain stores. People were angry with the exorbitant prices that store owners billed goods that had clearly been looted to help convoys.
Two weeks later, I was on the same market and I witnessed another angry demonstration. People sang: “You thieves!” and curse the merchants.
Having no fear of God, the owners of stores exploit merciless famine, selling help as if they were rare luxury articles when in fact it is supposed to be distributed for free. Cupidity and exploitation have gone too far and people take matters into hand. Through Gaza, there are protests against speculation on prices. In some places, stores are forcibly closed.
Indeed, the prices of essential goods have climbed to unimaginable levels, beyond everything that dictates by supply and demand forces. People cannot understand why goods cost as much despite their minimal purchasing power. The prices I saw by walking on the market were crazy: one kilo (2.2 lb) of flour – 40 shekels ($ 12), a kilo of rice – 60 shekels ($ 18), one kilo of lentils – 40 shekels ($ 12), a kilo of sugar – 250 shekels ($ 73), a liter (1 quarter) of baking oil – 200 Shekels ($ 58).
Since Israel imposed a complete blockade in Gaza in March, the normal distribution of aid through the United Nations – something that must happen tirelessly in any war zone – has ceased.
To avoid global criticism, Israel has created humanitarian hubs to distribute assistance supposedly. But they were nothing more than death traps. Many of those who come to collect aid are slaughtered and thousands have been killed or injured.
In parallel, the Israeli government began to allow a very small amount of aid trucks, but a large part of these is pillaged once they entered Gaza. The goods are then sold at scandalous prices.
Those who control this supply of pillaged food are powerful merchants and brokers, often protected by local influential actors or benefiting from indirect coordination with Israel. These actions are not spontaneous. They take place in a deliberately created atmosphere of chaos. With the collapse of state institutions and the lack of legal responsibility, exploitation has become the rule, not the exception.
It is clear for the Palestinians that the occupation does not simply aim to show that Gaza is weak. He actively seeks to prove that he is ungovernable. To achieve this, closing borders is not enough. The inhabitants of Gaza must be pushed into a state of constant chaos and friction.
Famine is a key instrument here. Hunger does not only kill. It also changes human nature. A hungry person, stripped of the strict minimum necessary to survive and subjected to daily humiliation, slowly loses the ability to think clearly, to judge or prevent themselves from turning against those they perceive – rightly or wrongly – as contributing to their suffering.
There are black markets and war profiteers in each conflict. But in this one, the power of occupation encourages these criminal activities, not because it earns money, but because it serves its global objective. Palestinians who choose to participate in this form of extortion are motivated by greed, blackmail or survival.
This slow detangling is exactly what the occupation has targeted. He wants chaos in the streets of Gaza, so the Israeli and international media can be quick to point a finger on the Palestinians and to declare: “Look, the Palestinian people implode. They cannot govern themselves. They do not deserve a state. ” But the truth is that it is not the sign of a failed nation. These are evidence of the success of the occupation to drag it at the edge.
It is not the people who have lost control. The control was eliminated by force of their famine, the systematic destruction of health care and health infrastructure, the dismantling of state institutions and the empowerment of criminals.
However, Gaza will not break. People can get angry and desperate, shout and protest, but they still keep a moral compass. This collective outcry is not intestine struggles. It is a clear warning that the company will no longer tolerate betrayal. Those who increase merciless prices in siege are traitors, and they will be held responsible before the institutions of justice when Gaza rebuilt.
The occupation can be delighted now in the collapse that takes place, but it would be wrong to think that it has defeated the Palestinians. Each crisis generates a new conscience. Each betrayal gives birth to new resistance. The vast majority of Palestinians refuse to become tools in the hands of their torturers. They refuse subjugation and erasure. They refuse to exploit and harm their fellow citizens.
Palestinian national solidarity is still alive.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.
