Palestine is only poor where Israel has been.
(Look, even Arabs know that Gaza leaders milk the poor for their own good and no one else's )
Qatar has sent hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Gaza in recent years to shore up an informal ceasefire. That money has allowed the Hamas-run government to pay its civil servants — while imposing taxes on imports, exports, businesses and tobacco that many ordinary Palestinians have resented as compounding their suffering. Hamas security forces have violently cracked down on protests against those measures.
In another example of the inequality in Gaza, a “fast track” through the Rafah crossing with Egypt — the only way most Gazans can travel into and out of the territory — is available for those who can pay high fees or have connections to Egyptian officials. In recent months, three of Haniyeh’s sons have appeared on the list, which is made public by the Hamas-run interior ministry. Other travelers must go through a lengthy permit process.
Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Haniyeh who himself has relocated to Istanbul, acknowledges the group has fallen short of its professed ideals.
“We presented ourselves as a popular movement, not an elite or factional one, so this should have obliged us to better address the people’s needs and problems,” he said.
Akram Atallah, a longtime columnist for the West Bank-based Al-Ayyam newspaper who moved from Gaza to London in 2019, said Hamas has tried to use the “duality” of being a government and a militant group to its advantage. When faulted for not providing basic services, it claims to be a resistance group; when criticised for imposing taxes, it says it’s a legitimate government, he said.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh famously pledged to live on “zeit wa zaatar”— olive oil and dried herbs — after he led the Islamic militant group to victory on a message of armed struggle and austerity during 2006 Palestinian elections.
thearabweekly.com