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| A Palestinian man reads the Quran at a mosque in Ramallah; another Palestinian reading Quran in the West Bank city of Jenin; Iraqis shop at the Shorja market in Baghdad; a vendor selling prayer beads in a market in central Baghdad |
Normally, the holy month of Ramadan, which in most Muslim countries began on 1 September, is a joyful season of charity, prayers and especially exquisite meals at the end of each day. However, for the majority of Palestinian families, hit hard by rampant unemployment and worsening poverty, this year's Ramadan represents a real challenge to their meagre budgets. Moreover, the enduring rift between Fatah and Hamas, which has become particularly ugly manifestations, is also casting a dark shadow on Palestine.
Many had hoped the advent of Ramadan would prompt the rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza to start over, as it were, and to free the hundreds of political prisoners each side is holding. However, far from this, the two parties' security apparatuses, and especially Fatah's, continued to round up alleged suspects by the dozens, in many cases subjecting them to physical and psychological mistreatment. The politically-motivated detentions, coupled with the worse plight of more than 10,000 Palestinian families whose sons and relatives are languishing in Israeli jails and detention centres, are undoubtedly leaving a depressing mark, especially during Iftar time, when families get together for the sunset meal to break the day's fast.
EMPTY POCKETS: In most markets in the West Bank, there is a surplus supply of all sorts of attractive food delicacies, on sale to entice those who are fasting. However, unlike previous years when overall living conditions were somewhat less intolerable, this time it is the demand that is in short supply -- not so much because the commodities are undesirable but rather because they are simply unaffordable for most shoppers. With their incomes so low, many families are holding on to their savings and using them only to purchase their most basic needs, such as flour, sugar and cooking oil. The non-essentials, they feel, can wait for better times.
One delicacy, the quintessentially Palestinian pancake dessert known as qatayef, has survived the crunch, with families putting aside some cash to make sure it graces their table at evening mealtimes.
Until a year ago, the most impoverished segments of Palestinian society received food supplements and a certain level of financial support from dozens of Muslim charities in the West Bank and abroad, especially in the Gulf region. However, nearly all these charities have either been closed down completely by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), or taken over by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Moreover, zakat (alms) committees, which played a pivotal role in fighting poverty and enabling the abjectly poor to maintain a dignified life, have all been seized by Fatah -- most likely encouraged by Israel and the US.
This has proven to be really disastrous for Palestine's poorest families, who had thus far depended on income supplements from these committees, run by pious people considered widely to be Hamas supporters. According to committee insiders, local and international donations have decreased by more than 90 per cent as a result of the crackdown.
"I can tell you that ever since the [PA Prime Minister Salam] Fayyad's government took over the zakat committee last year, we haven't received a penny from local donors," said one committee official from the Hebron region, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing that he would be sacked from his job if he was identified. "And the same thing can be said about donations from Muslims in the Gulf."
The main reason for the paralysis of the zakat committee is that local donors, who are usually pious Muslims, have little or no trust in the integrity of the new committee boards, mostly comprised of Fatah activists appointed by security agencies. "People think they are thieves. They wouldn't want their charity money to fall into unclean hands," the anonymous official told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Nevertheless, it would be inaccurate to assume that donors and zakat -payers have actually stopped paying out alms. After all, zakat is an essential pillar of the Islamic faith, as every Muslim who is financially able must pay 2.5 per cent of his/her financial assets to the poor per year, and most people choose to do so during the holy month of Ramadan.
Most zakat -givers now pay their money directly to the poor themselves, as was the case prior to the formation of the zakat committees in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In some localities, family committees have been established to distribute charity money and give food supplements to the poor within a given clan. This serves a double purpose: to strengthen intra-clan social solidarity and to realise a religious duty. Needless to say, in most cases it is those whose politics and faith intermingle, such as Hamas members, who oversee this task, in turn enhancing their standing within their own clans.
Such acts have infuriated the PA Waqf (Islamic Endowment) Ministry, which has meanwhile continued to urge the public to pay their charity money to the zakat committees while assuring them full transparency. There is no evidence that these calls are being heeded.
Moreover, the PA is upset by the fact that dozens of donors and aid agencies based in the oil-rich Arab states have almost completely stopped transferring money to the zakat committees in the aftermath of Fatah's takeover. Fatah has blamed Hamas for "inciting" the donors to stop sending their aid money to the West Bank. Hamas retorts by challenging Fatah to produce "honest people" who would be acceptable to the donors.
The Waqf Ministry has tried to salvage the situation by transferring financial allocations from the government budget to the zakat committees. However, these allocations have been very erratic, say charity officials. After all, the PA government itself is struggling to keep itself financially afloat, despite the billions of dollars paid or promised by donor countries.
Palestinian economist Adel Samara believes the donors' aid is not really meant to create economic growth. "It is meant as a bribe, to bribe the PA to give political concessions to Israel. This is why we have an economy like that of Somalia, although you will see many fancy cars in the streets."
Samara's remarks are by no means exaggerated. This week, Palestinian teachers in the West Bank started a two-day strike to protest against the government failure to pay thousands of teachers who haven't received regular salaries for two years. Most of these teachers were appointed by the Hamas-led government in the summer of 2006, and their records had since been referred to the Palestinian security agencies to sieve them according to their political orientations. Two years on, the security agencies have refused to process the records, causing untold suffering and misery to the teachers and their families, with some of them being forced to work as construction workers in nearby Jewish settlements to make ends meet.
One disgruntled teacher who has not received a regular salary for two years accused the Fayyad government of seeking to humiliate the teachers and destroy the entire educational system. "This government is seeking to psychologically destroy Palestinian teachers. I don't know how a demoralised teacher who can't buy a packet of milk for his child is expected to work properly," said the obviously irate teacher who also refused to reveal his name for fears he might be sacked.
The government says its coffers are nearly empty and cannot afford to run the process now. However, critics say that security agency inductees have their records processed in a matter of two weeks, after which they receive hefty salaries. Some security officers, with studies to high school level, receive higher salaries than do college professors.
TARAWEEH: However tough times have been, the economic burdens besetting most Palestinians are not succeeding in forcing them to succumb to the bitter reality. Every night Palestinian men, women and children, in the hundreds of thousands, flock to mosques for the congregational and festive night prayer, known as taraweeh. One elderly Palestinian who hastened to stand in the first row of worshipers at the Grand Mosque in Dura near Hebron, in the southern West Bank, remarked that "the most important thing is that we don't lose the hereafter. Yes, the economy is bad and there is a lot of poverty. But Ramadan is essentially a month for striving for the grace of God -- a month of prayer and charity and piety," he told the Weekly.
During the taraweeh prayer, large passages of the Quran are recited and worshipers are reminded to make sure that their loyalty ought to be reserved for God and God alone. This message, repeated every night in hundreds of mosques throughout the occupied territories, serves as a reminder that the will of the Palestinian people and their legitimate struggle cannot be destroyed, neither by the occupier nor by its lackeys.
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