Millions of tons of grain are still standing in Ukrainian ports. visited the Palestinian Territories to find out the impact of the Ukrainian war on the food situation in the region.
BETLEHEM / EASTERN JERUSALEM Dealer Abu Gadab lights tobacco at its vegetable and fruit market in the town of Bethlehem in the West Bank.
Tomatoes, lemons and onions show off in big clumps at the point of sale. There would still be enough for sale, but buyers are missing.
– Before the conflict in Ukraine, everything was fine. I had a lot of customers. Now only a few come to the market for shopping, Abu Gadab says.
Jamil Salah is leaving the market home with two plastic bags. The man regrets the war in Europe. He’s willing to comment on the situation, but he doesn’t want a photo.
Salah sees the war above all as a conflict between the United States and Russia.
– [Ukrainan presidentin] should not have left the sled for the United States and be ready for anything the United States wants, Salah says.
Salah has noticed the effects of the war on her purse. As elsewhere in the world, the general rise in prices in the region has been rapid during the spring.
Food prices are rising too high for a man.
– Ukraine is one of the world’s largest wheat producers, and a lot of wheat is also imported to Palestine from Ukraine. In addition to wheat, the effects are seen in many other products, Salah says.
The Palestinian Territories and Israel are dependent on Ukrainian grain
About 90 percent of Palestinian wheat is imported. One third of this wheat comes from Ukraine.
Large quantities of sunflower oil also flow from Ukraine to the Palestinian Territories.
Israel, like the Palestinian territories, is dependent on Ukrainian grain. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on for decades, and the occupation has tightly intertwined the various economies in the regions.
Charity Oxfam reviews (switch to another service) in April that wheat flour could run out in the Palestinian territories during the spring. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has denied the allegation. It said in the spring that wheat flour is enough for up to three months.
Jeries Karraa owns two large bakeries in Bethlehem which make bread and pastries.
Bakeries in the West Bank have received flour so far, but not as before, the man says.
– I’m afraid the war will just continue. What does that mean for next year? Wheat and many other commodities are already in short supply, Karraa ponders at her bakery in the center of Bethlehem.
In the spring, the Palestinian Authority (PA) sought to control the rise in prices through tax breaks targeted at bakeries’ VAT.
The situation is difficult even before the war in Ukraine and the corona pandemic
WFP Palestinian Territory Director Samer AbdelJaber has been following the situation with concern.
The situation was difficult even before the war in Ukraine. The war was preceded by a corona pandemic and a financial plight in the Palestinian Authority. Both continue to affect the situation.
– We do not want people to have to choose between food and medicine, for example.
The region’s economy is prone to fluctuations.
Nor can the authorities have much influence over the situation, but the market is in the hands of the private sector. For example, the Palestinian Authority does not have the grain silos that would be needed in such an emergency, AbdelJaber sums up the situation.
Now, a new crisis could, at worst, push the most vulnerable to the brink of famine, AbdelJaber says in his office in East Jerusalem.
The so-called food insecurity particularly affects Palestinians living in the blockade of Gaza. The term refers to a situation where food is not available.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the WFP the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. In the award criteria (you switch to another service)The UN was praised for its “key efforts to ensure that hunger is not used as a weapon of war and conflict.”
At the same time as the Ukrainian wheat has been standing in the Black Sea ports in the spring, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin has promised the Palestinians Russian grain.
Many overlapping crises are too much for the locals.
– People have not yet recovered from the corona pandemic or the conflict in Gaza a year ago. The situation is too difficult for someone who has a hard time meeting their basic needs and has little hope left.
Raja Khalid, director of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, has also been interviewed for the story.