Hajj is 'blessed season' for Gaza shop owners
Added expense and problems with transport are leading Gazans to buy hajj gifts from local markets rather than in Saudi Arabia.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — At a market in Gaza, Souad Abu Jarbou filled four large bags with prayer rugs and different gift items, including prayer beads, perfumes, incense, jalabiyas and ihram clothing. It cost her $1,500 to buy the various gifts for the guests expected to visit her family to congratulate her mother for making the hajj on Aug. 27.
“My mother decided that we should buy gift items from the local Gaza market, particularly since the various items are less expensive than those in the Saudi market,” Abu Jarbou told Al-Monitor. “I bought some beads, prayer rugs and prayer clothes for women and children, small oil perfumes and a number of miswak [twigs for cleaning teeth].”
Some pilgrims bring their relatives special gifts from Saudi Arabia, such as cell phones, jewelry and Gulf-made abayas. Ibrahim Shurfa, a customer in the market, explained to Al-Monitor, “The pilgrims use the money given by family members to get them some clothes and special things, such as loose overgarments, incense and devices like cell phones.” He noted that perfumes and incense of the kind in Saudi Arabia are unique and difficult to find in Gaza.
“My father-in-law bought traditional gift items for guests who will be congratulating him on the pilgrimage,” said Shurfa. “The pilgrims' families are buying presents from Gaza to save money and time, since it has become difficult to carry luggage through Egypt from Saudi Arabia to Gaza, given the many Egyptian checkpoints on the way back until the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.”
