Photo: Palestinian sellers display their goods amid high international prices due to the Ukrainian-Russian crisis in Al-Zawia market in Gaza City, on March 12, 2022. The United Nations food agency said that international food and feed prices could rise by up to 20% as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. (Photo: Youssef Abu Watfa/APA Images)
It did not take long for the West to mobilize against Russia for the crime of forcing innocent people to flee their homes and violating international law. Still, this has left Palestinians on the street to wonder how these powerful countries decide which cases to raise the flag of justice for? If they were to treat Israel like Russia, then they would change many things.
“This world is unjust, a world of lies, look around, people who create some principles for the world are the first people who violate them!” said an anonymous man sitting in the back seat of a taxi I was driving in. This man had a sharp voice and looked like a school teacher. He was the center of attention in the car as he spoke to the driver. He had a long time to talk as we were stuck in a long line of traffic. I just listened carefully without asking anything, sitting in the front seat with my notebook on my leg, taking notes.
The man kept discussing the world’s injustice in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He offered details and historical information to the passengers who seemed to enjoy his speech even if they weren’t expecting a lesson. The lecture came just as the Russian war was starting to affect people in Gaza in a way they were powerless to do anything about. Prices were rising all over again, similar to the spike last November.
“Look at how the United States moves, France and Britain, they all move like the invasion of Ukraine was an invasion of their own lands, and the people who were killed and fled their homes were their own people. They do so to show how they are concerned about the world. They want us to believe this, but how could we?!” At this point he realizes that I’m taking notes, even though I am writing quickly and in English, but that just warms him up and he continues.
“For almost a century now, every single day crimes against the international law and humanity have been committed in Palestine, where are they?! Do you see them ever condemn the Israeli violence against Palestinians? Did they put sanctions on Israel?” he asks the driver who just lit up a cigarette in the small car with closed windows. The driver raises up his cigarette, nodding to the man in the mirror and glancing at me. “Right, right,” he tells the man behind him.
“What is the difference between Russia and Israel when it comes to killing and forcing people to leave their home under the threat of death! Is there any difference between what is happening to the Ukrainian people from what has happened to the Palestinians every day during the last century? Maybe we do not just count in the powerful countries’ considerations,” the man finishes. He is finally out of breath and another passenger on the other side of the car has something he wants to share too.
“Here, in Gaza, we are born for a slow death,” he says. He seems very upset and pessimistic. “Each day we do not know which crisis we will have to face, there are too many. What do I have to do with this war that is making the price of flour go up nine shekels?” He stops speaking for a little while, then he says in a quieter voice as if he was speaking to himself, “We work all day and can barely feed our kids, now the price of everything is going up.”
The man behind him agrees, “poor people like us are the most affected people by wars.”
The driver’s mood got worse until every passenger arrived at his destination. He was in a very bad mood, but I could excuse him. He looks like a man who has many kids and his job as a driver can’t meet all the family’s needs. And of course, there is now a faraway war raising the price of basic needs like bread.
I walked by the Al-Rabea supermarket in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood on my way home. The owner is my neighbor. He told me that some goods are rising in price like oil, flour, cheese, and biscuits. Mohammed, the owner, ironically said the supermarket is turning into a museum, people are coming asking about the price and have a look at it then they leave.
Every change in the world seems to affect Palestinians in Gaza badly. They still struggle with the siege that every year offers tighter space and fewer opportunities for them. I’ve now been reporting on the issue of prices for a short time, and have already seen a huge escalation as prices keep rising. This has left me with this question: in the coming years, if life gets harder and it becomes even more expensive to eat, what will the hundreds of thousands of poor families in Gaza do?
