No one does refugee like the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip

I am having this internal debate with myself which revolves around how one has a humanitarian crisis without a financial crisis as well. Apparently, Hamas has not just finessed this situation but raised it to an art form. Taken from the New York Times:

Gaza’s population of 1.5 million depends on imports for most basic supplies. After the border wall fell, Egyptian merchants brought goods to the Egyptian side of Rafah to sell, and some Palestinians were bringing home televisions and computers.

This has to be the first “humanitarian crisis” I have ever witnessed where the purchase of televisions, computers, cement and cigarettes alleviate the suffering of humanity under crisis. We should try sending televisions & cigarettes the next time there is a famine somewhere in the world - hey it works for Gaza. I digress, but the paragraph which put this crisis in sharp focus in my mind was this bit:

Ahlan Ashour, 38, came with his wife to visit the Egyptian family, the Barhoums, who had put them up for 24 days during an earlier period when the Rafah crossing was shut. Mr. Ashour’s wife, Mohsin Elloulu, said she was struck by how much poorer the Egyptians of Rafah are. “At least our streets are paved,” she said of Gaza. The current lack of electricity and supplies is terrible, she said. “But materially, we’re so much more advanced in Gaza.” A driver here, she said, makes less than $1.50 a day, and in normal times in Gaza, $27. “But nothing is normal now,” she said.

No one does “refugee” or refugee camp quite like the Palestinians. No really, I mean that and I stand in awe. Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last June I have been hearing all sorts of international aid agencies presenting the dire financial plight of the Palestinians and the destruction of their economy. I can’t quite get a handle on how many Gazans are without work and presumably without income.

Figures run the gauntlet of 50% to over 80% unemployment depending on which aid agency is canvassing for money to help the Palestinians. (Check Google yourself.) There sure are a whole lot of Gazans with a whole lot of money in their pocket to buy a whole lot of goods in Egypt. I would dearly loved to know how one can be unemployed, destitute & suffering but still have plenty of money to spend. Economists should study this phenomenon. Workers of the world deserve to know.

And one more thing - why are there still refugee camps in the Gaza Strip? Doesn't it strike anyone other than me as a trifle odd that at no time did either the Palestinian Authority or Hamas make arrangements for these people to acquire land in the Gaza Strip on which to build permanent homes? Or are they waiting to relocate these people to Tel Aviv?