| Page 3 of 3 < |
In Gaza, New Hamas-Dominated Council Attends to Basics
Palestinian workmen repave a street in Beit Hanoun, where many streets were ripped up during Israeli incursions.
(Photos By Molly Moore -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Kafarna, the current mayor, said the new council inherited a town that was bankrupt, with more than $1 million in debts. With unemployment at 80 percent, few citizens paid taxes or utility bills. Most of the city's $580,000 annual budget is financed by the United Nations, United States and European Union.
A community that once cultivated nearly a third of the produce consumed in Gaza now is forced to buy agricultural products from outside because so much of the farmland was destroyed by Israeli soldiers, Kafarna said. Fifty percent of the able-bodied workers in the city had jobs in Israel before the uprising. Because of Israeli restrictions brought on by fears of suicide bombers and other attacks, only 2 percent of the labor force is now granted permits to work in Israel, he said.
Even so, the new Hamas government has encouraged working residents to pay their bills by giving breaks on unpaid back taxes and discounts for citizens who pay on a regular monthly basis.
In the last month, the city collected more than $46,000 in taxes -- a 300 percent increase over the previous month and enough to cover the city payroll for the month, Kafarna said.
He conceded that the new council's popularity in the city may have a short shelf life. "One of our biggest problems is that the citizens are impatient," he said. "They want a magic wand to change the situation."
"They have four years," said Mohammad Ali, sitting in a plastic chair beneath his newly installed streetlight on the outskirts of the city. "If they don't do anything, we'll tell them bye-bye."
Researcher Samuel Sockol in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
