Hamas Reimposes Blockade on Gaza
to protect its monopoly on fruit juice.
From the Kos diarist CJ Maloney:
“For the Palestine Food Industries Co. (PFI) (the only functioning juice maker in the Gaza Strip) sales have increased ten fold since the seige began as they have been handed a (literally) captive audience thanks to the Israeli military. Since the PFI is under the umbrella of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), which is a political entity controlled by Hamas (in 2006 Omar Abdel-Razeq, at the time Hamas finance minister, referred to the PIF as “our Palestinian Investment Fund”), here you have the root of the continuing blockade of Gaza in the area of fruit juices, the ultimate aim of every political creed: Other Peoples’ Money.
Israel has removed the blockade, lightening the load off the working masses of Gaza, and Hamas quickly slaps it right back on, all so they may continue to take more from the pockets of the Palestinian workers than would be possible under a free market in fruit juices. As always when it comes to political maneuverings of this kind, the politicians insist it is being done for the benefit of a beloved, mythical unicorn called The People and not to line the pockets of them and their politically connected cronies. “