Posted by
InchDeep on Thursday, May 01, 2008 5:54:52 PM
From IOL news.
Gaza - When Hassan Amin al-Bana gingerly steps on the gas pedal of his
bright yellow taxi, a strange smell wafts from the exhaust: deep-fried
fast food.
Faced with chronic fuel shortages due to an Israeli blockade and a
strike by Palestinian distributors protesting supply caps, taxi drivers
in the Gaza Strip are filling their tanks with cooking oil, often
scrounging leftover fat from street vendors.
"It's not like driving with diesel - it takes time to get it going in
the morning," said Bana, 40, at Gaza City's main taxi stand. "I know
it's bad for my car, but I have to pay for food for my kids so what can
I do?"
The pumps at Gaza's petrol stations have been deserted for several
weeks but brightly-coloured cartons of soya bean cooking oil, some
smuggled from Egypt, are piled high at the taxi rank in the
impoverished territory's main city.
The drivers say they mix the oil with turpentine before filling up.
Used oil is better than the fresh stuff so they often beg or buy
leftovers from street vendors who sell falafel -- a fried chick-pea
snack popular in the Middle East.
Vendors are doing a brisk trade.
"I set up the stall last week when I saw taxi drivers had started
putting cooking oil in their cars," said Yehya Karam, 21, as he stacked
cartons of oil alongside waiting taxis. "I sell about 70 cartons a day
-- I'd say most of the taxi drivers still on the streets are powering
their cars this way."
Israel has sharply cut the amount of fuel it pumps into the Gaza Strip
as part of tightened restrictions on the enclave after Hamas members
routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and wrested
control last June.
Limited supplies have all but dried up since the Palestinian fuel
association went on strike this month to protest the limits, preventing
one million litres of diesel and petrol in tanks on the Gaza side of
the border from being delivered.
Israeli restrictions on cooking oil are less stringent than for fuel,
although aid groups say supply is starting to run low now it is being
used to power cars. Prices are also rising.
International organisations condemn the Israel-led blockade but the
Jewish state says it aims to curb Palestinian militants who fire
rockets at Israel and target its border crossings.
Some drivers buy diesel smuggled through tunnels from Egypt on the
black market. But a litre costs up to 20 Israeli shekels ($5,76), about
three times the price in Israel and beyond the reach of most Gazans,
more than half of whom live in poverty.
Others have hooked their cars up to canisters of cooking gas, but that too is in short supply. Many travel by donkey or bicycle.
The fuel shortage has also hit the enclave's creaking sanitation
system, and stinking sewage gushed onto the Gaza City streets on
Wednesday when a main pump stopped working because diesel for back up
generators ran out during a power cut.
Ahmed al-Beltaji, who runs a falafel stall at the taxi rank, started selling his leftover oil to drivers about 10 days ago.
"It makes the cars smell like a kitchen - you feel like falafel is
following you," said Beltaji, crinkling his nose. "Next week they'll be
putting water in there."