Mamoun Abushahla

Business is very bad here.

MEET THE PANEL Name: Mamoun Abushahla Age: 63 Lives: Gaza City Works: International businessman

Six or seven years ago our company's annual turnover was about 10 million dollars; now it's half a million dollars.

I have lived outside Palestine for 30 years, so I have businesses in Egypt.

At the moment I'm seriously considering transferring most of my activities outside Palestine.

What is preventing me is that - since June - the Rafah checkpoint has been closed most of the time.

So I can't get out. And it would be difficult to return.

LIFE IN GAZA Fathi Tobail Mona Yousef Mamoun Abushahla Majeda Al Saqqa

I have just had a meeting with the Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyah, to discuss problems with the banks.

Miserable situation

I am on the board of the Bank of Palestine. There is a lot of pressure from the government because people are on strike.

We also have pressure from speakers in mosques. Some are officials in the Hamas government; they are accusing the banks of not helping people.

This is not correct. Everyone has to understand that banks are different; their role is not to save people.

Our aim today was to explain to Ismail Haniyah that we have a limited part to play in solving the government's problems. I believe we succeeded in that.

We are under a mutual understanding with international banks to avoid dealing with the Hamas government.

And we cannot challenge the will of the international bodies.

This situation will not make the Palestinians more reasonable

Therefore we have to work very carefully not to make trouble with the local government, nor the world's governing bodies, for example, Europe and the US.

People are in a very miserable situation here. They haven't had their full salaries in seven months.

The political situation is also bad. Hamas are unable to satisfy the major players: Israel, the US, Europe.

The problem is, Israel sees this as a good chance to make political gain.

It doesn't see that this economic pressure will reduce the number of people looking for a peaceful solution.

Nor that this situation will not make the Palestinians more reasonable.