Murphy's Law: The Joys Of Blockade

Archives

October 25, 2012: Many Israelis were dismayed to discover that the new iPhone 5 is already for sale in Gaza, where it is smuggled in. While Gaza has been blockaded by Israel for the last few years (to prevent Hamas, which runs the place, from getting more weapons and military equipment), Egypt has been less rigorous. The Egyptian border has a network of tunnels crossing it, which carries weapons and consumer goods for the ten percent of the population that does quite well off all the foreign aid and other scams. It’s no secret that there are many up-scale neighborhoods in Gaza. These get little publicity in the foreign media but there they are and the residents are snapping up iPhone 5's at about twice what they are going for in the US (where unlocked iPhone 5's go for about $650). The iPhones are more expensive in Gaza because of all the bribes paid to police and border officials as well as the hefty tax Hamas imposes on smuggled goods.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close