Gazans Take a Radicalized View of Intifada

Saddam Hussein has joined the Palestinian uprising. He is giving $10,000 apiece to families with “martyrs”--that is, families who have lost a son to Israeli gunfire.

“We are very grateful,” said Fatheya abu Ammona, who was presented with the Iraqi president’s check after her 24-year-old son, Fahmi, was killed by Israeli forces during clashes near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim.

Hussein isn’t the only Arab radical popular in the Gaza Strip these days. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who heads the Islamic Hezbollah movement that fought to drive Israel out of southern Lebanon, is appearing at more and more rallies and funerals, in the form of posters borne by angry young men. Hezbollah flags are now a top-selling item at the popular PLO Flag Shop here.

Palestinians everywhere, but especially here in Gaza, are becoming increasingly radicalized as their bloody uprising moves into its 10th week and the death toll nears 300.

Israel has responded to Palestinian attacks with military and economic punishments, but instead of driving the Palestinians into retreat, many seem more determined than ever to fight the Jewish state. The radicalization will make it harder to achieve a truce and, eventually, lasting peace.

Israeli airstrikes have been dramatic and frightening but fairly surgical in their targeting. Far more damaging is a barrage of trade and labor sanctions that has played havoc with an already weak economy, wiped out modest gains of recent years and deepened poverty--and bitterness--for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

A study by the World Bank estimates that the number of Palestinians living at or below the poverty line will have soared by 50% in the last four months of this year if conditions do not improve.

About 20% of all Palestinians lived in poverty in September. More than 30% will be living in poverty at year’s end; in Gaza alone, the percentage will be closer to 45%.

That means that in Gaza, nearly half the population of 1.1 million will be living on less than $2 a day, World Bank economist Sebastian Dessus said.

Unemployment more than doubled practically overnight when Israel, citing fears of terrorism, barred entry to 125,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who work in the Jewish state. And as the Palestinian economy slowed further and money got tighter, businesses and construction projects shut down, throwing another 125,000 people out of work, according to economists.

Tiny, densely populated Gaza is particularly hard hit because its borders are defined and easily sealed by Israel.

Israel suspended the shipment of gasoline and other fuels after it said delivery trucks had come under fire; Gaza is wholly dependent on Israel for its fuel. Shipments resumed this week in what Israeli officials said was a gesture for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but residents continued to report shortages of cooking gas and some difficulty in filling their cars’ tanks.

The Karni crossing point in Gaza, where most food, furniture and other consumer products arrive or leave, has been operating at less than half its capacity. Israel maintains that the Palestinians share the blame; the government of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat also has refused to accept some Israeli products. Part of the slowdown, Israelis argue, is caused by the fact that every truck, including those with donated food from Europe, must be searched for what Israel says are security reasons.

A new Gaza industrial park that was to serve as the economic engine for the future Palestinian state is virtually closed. Sixteen Israeli investors who sank millions of dollars into the project are said to be trying to pull out.

Hussein Bawap, a Palestinian textile manufacturer, invested $1 million in a clothing factory in the industrial park 18 months ago, employed 120 people and produced 700 pieces a day. He believed that the industrial zone would open markets worldwide. Since the violence started, he has been forced to shut down for 35 of the last 60 days, slash his production by half and fire a third of his staff.

“Everything has stopped,” he said.

No Apparent Hunger

Despite the claims of some Palestinian officials, such as Intisar Wazir, the minister of social affairs, Gaza doesn’t appear to be going hungry. Gazans belong to very large families, and an informal system of safety nets enables most people to get by. One breadwinner who ordinarily provides for five or six people, the average, may now be supporting 10 or more people, helping out an unemployed brother or cousin.

But the support network is starting to break down. If Israel continues to bar Palestinian workers, the long-term impact will be devastating, economists say. Israeli officials have considered importing workers from China, Thailand and elsewhere to fill the void in construction and agriculture left by the Palestinian absence.

Ahmed Belaawi hasn’t worked in more than two months. As a carpenter on various construction jobs near the Israeli city of Ashdod, he managed to bring home about 500 shekels, or nearly $125, a week.

“Today my income is not a single shekel,” Belaawi, 45, said inside a dark Gaza City living room with peeling paint and tattered sofas. He supports a wife, Senea, and five children. First they took a loan from Senea Belaawi’s brother, but now the brother’s construction work in Gaza City has also ended.

The local grocer let them buy some items on credit, and they’ve deferred paying their electrical bills.

“God knows how long this can go on,” Senea Belaawi said. Before this week’s start of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast in daytime, she was able to cook one hot meal a day for her children; breakfast and dinner were a salty wheat-meal powder called dogga, served on pita bread.

“I don’t feel they are hungry, but the quality is not there,” she said.

In the Ammona household, graced by pictures of Iraq’s Hussein and by his $10,000 gift, uncle Jamil also has lost his job in Israel. His rage at “the Jews” barely containable, he said he’s prepared to sacrifice his life to strike back at Israel.

“You think this is just Hamas?” he said, referring to the militant Islamic group that has carried out terrorist attacks in the past. “I’m from Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad--all the people want to kill the Jews,” he screeched, naming radical and mainstream organizations.

Israeli military officials maintain that the economic restrictions are not designed to punish Palestinians but to safeguard Israeli security.

“Can we tell Palestinians to come work in Israel when we see every day the brainwashing and incitement on Palestinian TV?” asked Shlomo Dror, a military spokesman. “We cannot trust any Palestinian right now.”

A 180-Degree Turn

The Palestinian public, especially in Gaza, has always been more radical than its leadership and less willing to compromise with Israel. The intifada, or uprising, has further pushed the public in that direction, and, more significant, forced the leadership to harden as well.

Reprisals by the Jewish state, seen by most Israelis as restrained and measured, are viewed by Palestinians as extreme and unjust, adding fuel to the flames.

“Palestinians have turned 180 degrees in their relations with Israel,” said Ziad abu Amr, a Palestinian legislator and expert on Islamic fundamentalism. “If I go out and use the same language as before [advocating peace and reconciliation], I would be embarrassed. Israel is making it extremely difficult for rational discussion to prevail.”

The question for Americans, especially, is whether increased Palestinian militancy will lead to terrorism further afield. Gaza has been hit by a slew of bombings, but all have targeted Jewish settlers whom Palestinians wish to eject from the territory.

In an ominous development, 10 antitank missiles were stolen in late October from an Israeli arms depot in Gaza, according to security sources. The missiles are more powerful than any weapon the Palestinians are officially known to have.

“The continuation of this situation, with Israel killing Palestinians, will put American interests in danger,” warned Rashid abu Shbak, the No. 2 man in the principal Palestinian security force in Gaza, which has been implicated by Israel in terror attacks. “What happened in Aden [the deadly bombing in Yemen of a U.S. naval ship] is not far from what is happening in Palestine.”