NABLUS
& GAZA, November 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The
Palestinian people will greet the month of Ramadan this year amidst
deteriorating economic conditions, with more than two thirds of the
population living under the poverty line.
Mona
Mansour (Umm Bakr), is a mother of five children. She personifies the
tragic situation in Palestine as she has to care for five children by
herself after the Israeli occupation forces assassinated her husband
Jamal Mansour, one of Hamas's leaders in Nablus at the end of the month
of July, 2001.
Speaking
to IslamOnline, Umm Bakr said that for a woman to carry the
responsibility of a large family on special occasions such as Ramadan
and the Eids is difficult. "It's difficult for her to provide all
the needs during these occasions and the children will not forgive her
for forgetting or ignoring these needs. At the same time, she has to
play the role of both parents."
Umm
Bakr's situation is the same as that of more than three thousand martyr
wives, whose husbands were killed since the start of the first intifada
in 1987. It is also the case of tens of thousands of families who lost
their only breadwinner. As Ramadan comes again this year, their
situations have not changed if not worse.
Nasser
Al Bakri, 45, spoke to IslamOnline's correspondent about the tough
conditions his family endures in the holy month: "I don't know what
to do anymore? I'm very confused! Do I sell a part of my body? Do I beg
at the mosques' entrances and ask people for help? How do I provide food
for my young ones?"
As
he stands in a roundabout in Nablus to sell tissue paper and cigarette
lighters, he said that during the last two years he hasn't been able to
find a job that will help him provide the basic necessities for his
household. He said that after losing his job as a car mechanic in
Israel, which used to pay him handsomely, he had to resort to selling
all the electric equipment and jewelry he owned and he now has to stand
for long hours under the sun to sell his items.
The
picture looks even more bleak at the family of Abu Rasheed Al Haj who
supports five children after their sole breadwinner was injured by a
bullet in his shoulder during the intifada which made him lose his job
and left the family dependent on official and charity aid.
Al
Haj said that he will sell his clothes and his children's clothes in the
market for bread.
As
IslamOnline's correspondent stopped at a traffic light, she was
approached by a young boy wearing old clothes and he started begging her
to buy sweets from him so that he could help his unemployed father to
support his family of thirteen members and to purchase items for Ramadan
