At a workshop organized by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights on the phenomenon of rising prices, guest speakers called for active government monitoring and intervention into price-fixing and monopolies.
They criticized the scarcity of goods, high prices, and the absence of law to protect consumers from exorbitant prices.
Three economic experts, Dr.
Sami Abu Zarifa, Nasser Al Helou, Hatem Awaida Badoura, spoke before a gathering of civil society activists and journalists at the Grand Palace Hotel on 17 March 2008 to give their opinions on the current phenomenon that continues to cripple the Palestinian economy.
Dr.
Abu Zarifa said that rising prices is a worldwide phenomenon.
The blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel restricts the quantity of goods, thereby, creating a ripe environment for monopolies and high prices.
The absence of consumer protection under the law and lack of business associations that can demand change from the government are additional factors that allow the phenomenon to continue.
With 80% of Palestinian families now in poverty, Dr.
Abu Zarifa demanded regional and international intervention to lift the blockade and the open the crossings between Gaza and the outside world, which would allow the return of flow of goods to the Strip.
He added that "a vision for government intervention in the Palestinian market will ensure the protection of consumer and families with limited income.
" Nasser Al Helou, General Manager of Al Helou Company, said that any comparison of commodity prices with neighboring countries explains the predominance of this phenomenon in Palestinian society.
For example, "the price of gas in Israel is the same in the Gaza Strip; however the average Israeli individual income is thirty times more than the Palestinian".
He emphasized that we are facing a further potential increase in prices as incomes continue to erode due to the political and economic situation and the dollar's value declines.
An increased demand for basic raw materials, the changing pattern of consumption in the world, and environmental protection laws also cause prices to rise.
Al Helou demanded the government to take a managerial role concerning basic goods in order to protect low-income families, in the light of what he called a lack of normal free market controls.
The Director of the Ministry of the National Economy, engineer Hatem Awaida, said that grain prices increased by 75% between 1974 and 2005.
The Ministry of the National Economy has issued policies to address the high prices and lack of consumer protection; yet, large lay-offs prohibit effective implementation or monitoring of the market.
He pointed out that Gaza's consumer prices in 2007 recorded an increase of 27%, compared with 18% in 2000.
This was the first time that the Gaza Strip witnessed an increase similar to the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Awaida encouraged an investment in agriculture and subsidies for basic goods.
The workshop, entitled "Phenomenon of Prices: Between Closure and Lack of Oversight", was moderated by Al Mezan researcher, Alaa Matar, in order to address the rising prices that negatively affect Palestinian society.
The Center, in light of widespread poverty and unemployment in the Gaza Strip, calls for upholding the economic and social rights of citizens under the current serious humanitarian conditions.
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