Jerusalem- Several Hamas ministers attended the grand opening of a new commercial center in Gaza City on Saturday, according to the Palestinian PalTimes news service. The two story mall, which carries "all the supplies needed by the family… food and clothing, perfumes, shoes, household appliances [and] office [supplies]," is air conditioned and was shown fully stocked in photographs posted online by the Gaza-Based Safa Images photojournalism agency.

 

Ahmad Kurd, the Hamas government's Minister of Social Affairs, announced that the mall will "help meet the basic needs" of the population of Gaza and will stock goods brought into the strip through smuggling tunnels from the Sinai.

 

Also speaking at the opening, Salah Abu Abdo, the manager of the mall, stated that the center's "low prices" together with its e-commerce site will stimulate the local economy and encourage "Gazan citizens to buy."

 

Some regional observers have wondered why the opening of the new mall has not received substantial coverage in the western media. "On a day when (because EU Foreign Policy Chief Baroness Ashton is in Gaza) the BBC and other media have featured extensive reports all day long on what they term the dire economic situation in Gaza, why are they not mentioning the new shopping mall that opened there yesterday?" asked former Sunday Telegraph Middle East correspondent David Gross.

 

Gross pointed out that "life expectancy and literacy rates are higher, and infant mortality rates are lower in Gaza than [in such developed nations as] Turkey."

 

It remains to be seen how Israel's recent move to loosen its blockade on the Hamas controlled enclave will affect the mall's business.

 

While the owners of the tunnels that bring construction supplies, consumer goods, weapons and even motor vehicles into the territory from Sinai are worried over the future of the lucrative smuggling trade, local entrepreneurs and businessmen are reportedly split in their views on the partial easement of the blockade.

 

"No doubt, the legal border crossings are better for me," a Gazan businessman told the Associated Press.  "We are in a test phase now, and it's too early to tell if we will say goodbye to the tunnels."

 

However, according to a report in the Palestinian Al-Ayam newspaper, some merchants are concerned over the possibility of Gazan manufacture being damaged by Israeli goods flooding the local market and have called for the Hamas administration to limit the importation of certain Israeli products.

 

One Hamas spokesman decried what he called a "plot by Israelis, Arabs and Europeans to restore the rule of the [Fatah-led] Palestinian Authority in Gaza" and Minister of the Economy Ziad al-Zaza said that he may push for some form of economic protectionism, such as a ban on the importation of juice and soda.