Israeli report parallels case of Muhammed Abu Asi to that of Tunisian who sparked Arab Spring, says Gazans are gearing up for protests
Four and a half years after Tunisian vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi triggered the Arab Spring by setting himself on fire in protest of harassment and humiliation by local authorities, the attempted suicide of a desperate Gaza sweet corn vendor, for similar reasons, is threatening to spark public protests against Hamas rule in the Strip, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Thursday night.
“This is a very tense moment” in Gaza, the TV report said. Hamas fought a 50-day war with Israel last summer, in which more than 2,000 Gazans (almost half of them combatants, Israel says) were killed and hundreds of thousands lost their homes, little rebuilding has happened since, and poverty and joblessness are widespread. Gazans largely blame Israel for their plight, while Israel says Hamas brought ruin upon Gaza by emplacing its rockets and tunnel opening in residential areas.
“This is a very tense moment” in Gaza, the TV report said. Hamas fought a 50-day war with Israel last summer, in which more than 2,000 Gazans (almost half of them combatants, Israel says) were killed and hundreds of thousands lost their homes, little rebuilding has happened since, and poverty and joblessness are widespread. Gazans largely blame Israel for their plight, while Israel says Hamas brought ruin upon Gaza by emplacing its rockets and tunnel opening in residential areas.
Abu Asi attempted to take his own life on Saturday night, and the publicity surrounding his care is now fueling protests by locals who are threatening to march on city hall and set fire to that building and other Hamas offices, the report said, comparing his case to that of Bouazizi in Tunisia in early 2011.
(After his produce was confiscated by the authorities in the town of Sidi Boudid, Bouazizi set himself on fire in despair, dying a few days later, an act that triggered what became first the Tunisian Revolution and then the Arab Spring.)
The Gaza City local council has denied harassing Abu Asi, and issued a statement wishing him a speedy recovery.
But it acknowledged intervening to prevent stallholders like Abu Asi putting chairs out around their stalls, but said it was its responsibility. “What the Gaza municipality does is organize these stands, despite the fact that they are illegal,” it said. “As long as they keep the place clean and do not breach the law, we keep them because we take into account the dire conditions in which people are living.”
Abu Asi’s sister told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that the family would take legal action against the local authorities.
As reported by The Times of Israel