In Gaza, you get your change in chocolate

Photo posted on Flickr by "darranc".

Stifled by the Israeli embargo since June 2007, Gazans are so in need of essentials that they're even lacking petty cash. The half-shekel, which is worth about 10 euro cents, has almost completely disappeared.

Many things cost about a half-shekel in Gaza: a packet of tissues, a biscuit, a crayon or a pencil.

There is no official currency in the Palestinian Territories; the Israeli shekel is most commonly used. The Israelis refused to allow Palestinians to have their own currency when an economic agreement was signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1994.

The half-shekel. Image posted on Flickr by Tiffany Follett.

Contributors

Lina Al-Sharif

“Manufacturers use copper coins to make plugs”

Lina Al-Sharif, 20, writes the blog Live From Gaza.

Problems with the half-shekel started at the beginning of this year. I noticed that every time I went to the shop, the shop owner found it very hard to give half-shekels in change.

It's on public transport that it really causes problems, though. The price for a trip in a group taxi is a shekel and a half. With no half-shekels around, you end up giving the driver two shekels and getting a bar of chocolate instead of the change.

The shortage is caused by the embargo placed on Gaza more than two years ago. From around 400 products that used to be imported into Gaza, there are now only 40, and most of them are foodstuffs.

We're missing a lot of stuff. And one of those things is electric plugs with copper prongs. So manufacturers of plugs are making quite a profit by taking half a shekel to make a plug, and then selling it for five shekels.

We use various types of currency in the Gaza Strip — Jordanian dinars, American dollars, the Egyptian pound — but the shekel remains the most common day to day. It's in shekels that we get paid and with which we pay for our shopping.

Lina Al-Sharif