Al Hayat al Jadida reports that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs have received permits to enter Israel during Ramadan - and they are finding that identical items of food and clothing are a fraction of the cost that they are charged back home.
Mothers who spent a large amount on Ramadan clothes in the West Bank are upset at seeing the same clothes, or clothes of better quality, for half the price in Tel Aviv.
One woman said, "It's a scandal for our merchants ... I bought clothes for my kids from shops in Ramallah at high prices, but when I went to the shops in the Israeli cities and found the same clothes, but the price difference is substantial...It's incredible and unjustifiable what our merchants are doing to exploit citizens, and the official institutions in power do nothing to stop this."
The writer estimates that if every Arab visiting Israel spends only 200 shekels, that means that 50 million shekels are being spent in Israel instead of in the PA-administered territories.
While the PA stated that Israel issues the permits just to gain economically, others aren't buying their line any more. The head of a consumer protection agency in the West Bank says that the local merchants have no incentive to keep prices low because they simply have no competition.
Merchants, not surprisingly, claim that they have too many expenses, in rent, workers and taxes, and cannot compete with Israeli prices. While I don't know how much they are taxed, it is obvious that Israeli workers get paid about double the rate that Ramallah shopkeepers pay, and the rent in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem is no less than in Ramallah, so this argument doesn't hold much water.
Meanwhile, Gazans can only wish for the ability to visit Israel as freely. But this year they don't have much money anyway. Hamas has delayed paying salaries to its workers before the upcoming Eid, causing much grumbling. Hamas knows very well that the economy has been a major component in some of the Arab upheavals bu it seems to have lost its Iranian and Egyptian patrons for now, so it is scrambling for its very life.
