PA accuses Israel of smuggling explosives into PA-controlled areas
Headline: “The fireworks – millions of shekels burn in the air, frighten, and harass”
“The shooting of fireworks is a negative phenomenon in our society, aside from being a violation of Explosives Law No. 13 of 1953 and [PA] Government Decision No. 26 of 2004.
Clause 13 of the [Explosives] Law determines that imprisonment will be imposed on whoever engages in trading fireworks – up to two years of imprisonment and/or a monetary fine of 200 Jordanian dinars.
Despite the efforts of the [PA] Security Forces and the national [PA] Ministry of Finance to stop the phenomenon, the efforts are not achieving significant success because the society doesn’t cooperate with the Security Forces… and the lack of implementation of the relevant decisions and laws.
Millions of [Israeli] shekels in the occupation’s pockets
The money spent on purchasing these fireworks is estimated at millions of shekels, most of which goes to the pockets of Israeli factories in the settlements that produce them, and they are smuggled and reach local [Palestinian] markets, and are sold for hundreds of thousands of shekels… One of the civilians bragged on social media that he spent 20,000 shekels on purchasing fireworks for a modest party that he held to honor his daughter’s success in the exams.
The settlements are the main source
[PA] Import Tax Administration Public Relations and Communications Manager Ibrahim Ayyash… said that most of the explosives and fireworks are smuggled from the settlements, and particularly from the settlement of Barkan… and also from the settlement of Kfar Etzion, as well as fireworks that are imported from China, and the Israeli authorities turn a blind eye knowing that they are meant for Palestinian markets.
Ayyas said that despite the Explosives Law of 1953 and Government Decision No. 26 of 2004, and despite the fact that the [PA] Security Forces and [PA] Ministry of Finance are carrying out their role in fighting the phenomenon of trading explosives, the lack of cooperation by the society and the traders’ ways of action… make it difficult to confiscate these materials, particularly since the trading takes place in Area C (i.e., land under full Israeli administration according to the Oslo Accords)…
[PA] Police Spokesman Luay Erziqat… said that dealing with fireworks and explosives caused the wounding of five people who lost fingers, and he added that the police arrested 10 merchants on the charge of selling and possessing fireworks… [He said:] ‘The police are constantly working on the topic, and particularly before announcements of the matriculation exam results, in addition to producing publications against the phenomenon.’ …
The police spokesman said that all the institutions of society bear responsibility for this, and not just the police and [security] forces, and he said that there is a need to make the punishment for trading and using fireworks and explosives stricter…
Millions of shekels are burned
An economic commentator… estimated the money that the [Palestinian] residents spent on the day of the announcement of the exam results at 10 to 13 million shekels…
The Consumer Protection [Council]: The fireworks are a profit for the Israeli economy and damage for us
The Consumer Protection Association Council in the Ramallah district said that there is a drop in the level of awareness and opposition of some of the consumers… which has been expressed by a waste of money on explosives and fireworks at the time of the announcement of the matriculation exam results, in a manner that had a negative impact on the Palestinian society; by noise; and by disturbing the sick, the children, and the elderly…
The Consumer Protection Association Council noted that most of these fireworks originate from Israeli traders who market them in the Palestinian territories via local smugglers, and this constitutes a waste of money in the shadow of an economic crisis…
What does the civilian say?
Journalist Omar Nazzal said that ‘the harming of the other has become a culture that is not limited just to celebrations of success at the matriculation exams, but rather prevails in all the phenomena of harassing the other on the claim that it is only [for] a day or an hour… Many who have an event, whether it is an engagement party, a release from the occupation’s prison, or success in the matriculation exams, hold these celebrations in a manner that disturbs others.’
An El-Bireh Municipal Council member… said that: ‘The responsibility is on everyone. We have failed in assimilating a civil culture within us.’”