The Tomatoes of Wrath

The goats were happy, but the people feeding them were forlorn as they dumped loads of unsellable cherry tomatoes in the scrub of central Gaza. Hundreds of tons of the vegetable used to be exported from the area, but last week the Palestinian Economic and Development Authority, which operates greenhouses abandoned by Israeli settlers, could only trash much of the crop. Since Hamas' electoral victory in the Palestinian territories, Israel has, in effect, blocked commerce by virtually sealing the borders, citing continued attacks by Palestinian militants. The closings also prevent almost all imports. Now anxious U.N. workers in Gaza City fret that they will soon run out of food to hand out to even more anxious Palestinian refugees. Walid Safiz, 28, a vendor selling sundries at the Friday market in Gaza City, said business was down 80% because, with international financing and subsidies frozen, the government can't pay its roughly 160,000 civil servants. Says Safiz: "If they don't get salaries, they don't buy anything." On Saturday, Palestinian cops, angry over unpaid salaries, stormed a government building.

Since taking power on March 29, Hamas, refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist, has been scrambling to respond to the chief consequences of victory: a freeze in funding to the Palestinian government by the U.S. and many members of the European Union. For now, Hamas leaders, facing dwindling postelection optimism, can be glad that popular frustration and anger are pointed at Israel, the U.S. and Europe. Flexibility on the part of the international community would ease their difficulties, but meanwhile Hamas must find a way to stem the crisis or risk having opprobrium turned its way.

There is scarce room for maneuvering: most international capitals have chosen not to receive Hamas' leaders. Pledges of funding from a handful of Arab countries--even if delivered--wouldn't make up the financial shortfall. Israel has suspended monthly payments of approximately $50 million in tax and customs revenues it collects for the Palestinians. And it will not talk to Hamas until it halts attacks on Israel by all Palestinian factions. Even as Hamas, which has itself held to a cease-fire, tries to stem attacks by other militants, Israel says it will continue to retaliate, increasing economic damage.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniya lashed out at Israel and the West last Tuesday for trying "to force our people to kneel down." But his administration is searching for ways out of the crisis, which might mean making conciliatory gestures toward Israel. According to Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hamas as an organization will not recognize Israel and would seek only an "interim solution" to the current impasse, but spokesmen for the government, as well as some Palestinian officials, have suggested that almost all options could be on the table--including, perhaps, recognition in some roundabout form--if Israel in return would withdraw to the 1967 borders and close all settlements in the West Bank. "Hamas has made significant strides to evolve, which have so far not been internationally acknowledged," says Nicolas Pelham, senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group.