.Gazans make own fuel amid Israel restrictions
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Taxi driver Saif Khadour swears by his recipe to keep his cherry-red Mercedes Benz on the road: four parts cooking oil to one part turpentine.
Other motorists have experimented with different concoctions added to cooking oil, including shots of diesel, motor oil, kerosene, pesticides and even air freshener, as ways around Israeli-imposed fuel restrictions in the Gaza Strip.
Still others have converted gas-run cars to electric batteries.
It's hardly a green revolution in the most impoverished part of the Palestinian territories. It's more about practical, home-school chemistry lessons: figuring out what brew will keep the cars moving as regular gas prices soar to about $27 a gallon on the black market - nearly two weeks wages for many Gazans.
Yet, every solution comes with a downside. The price of cooking gas has doubled and those inhaling the potent fumes complain of vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps.
A dense smell of fried food lingers over Gaza City's Palestine Square, the once-bustling transport hub for the territory. Where the cars line up for customers, there's an impromptu cooking oil "station" - stacked boxes of cooking oil on the side of the road, to quickly refill waiting cars.
Drivers swap recipes as they wait for customers in the square and in the nearby Hakawati cafe.
"We all gossip here, and everybody contributes what they know," said Mahmoud Jindiyeh, who sells taxi tickets. Some hawkers wear masks to dodge the sticky fumes. Passers-by cover their mouths as they quickly walk through the square - once a popular shopping destination. Now few people linger and vendors leave early.
Israel began scaling back fuel supplies to Gaza in January to pressure Palestinian militants to halt rocket barrages at neighboring Jewish communities. A cease-fire to begin on Thursday will let in more supplies, but fuel shipments will not resume immediately and it is not clear when relief might arrive for Gaza's beleaguered motorists.
Supplies have lurched between increased restrictions, a Palestinian distributors' strike and militants brazenly attacking the crossing where supplies are pumped in.
Israel says it supplies enough fuel for civilian taxi drivers and accuses the ruling Hamas militant group of hoarding stock. Ziad Zaza, a Hamas government official, said it takes fuel supplies to ensure it goes to priority needs, like hospitals, water wells and garbage collection. Smaller amounts are rationed to residents.
The shortages have spawned an expensive black market. Sellers hawk hoarded supplies and smugglers bring in plastic gallons filled with fuel through tunnels that crisscross southern Gaza into neighboring Egypt. Gas reaches $7.20 a liter, or about $27 a gallon, and diesel is $6.30 a liter, about $24 a gallon.
Most Gazans live on less than $2 a day and rely on the far steadier, cheaper supply of vegetable oil.
Tim Shallcross, a U.K.-based alternative fuel expert, said any car with an old diesel motor can run on vegetable oil, though over the long term it can cause some rust and clogging of filters. Gaza has some 32,000 registered diesel cars.
"We find alternatives to everything," boasted Khadour, the taxi driver. He mixes four gallons of vegetable oil with one gallon of turpentine in a plastic tank that he attaches to the motor filter. Khadour created the recipe himself after working for years in Israeli mechanic shops.
Some drivers have rituals. Jamal Othman gingerly pours a liter of expensive diesel into the engine of his beat-up Mercedes. He then pours in three liters of sunflower oil, and tops it off with another liter of diesel. It's worked for the past five days, the cabbie said. Cars might suffer long-term corrosion, though, because of the water content in vegetable oil, Shallcross said.
While other countries use biofuels, they are adapted to ensure plumes of potentially poisonous smoke aren't emitted. In Gaza, residents say the alternative fuel is making them sick.
"I don't eat anymore," said 14-year-old Mohammed Sweisi, who sells bunches of peppermint in Palestine Square. Despite the fragrance of the mint, he also wore a mask.
Sweisi said he recently purchased medicine for severe headaches and stomach pains. "My stomach doesn't hurt anymore, but I don't feel like eating," he said. By late afternoon, Sweisi said he'd only drunk a cup of tea.
Gaza's tabloid-style radio stations warn residents of developing cancer. Health officials say they are worried, but have no studies to explain the illnesses Gaza residents are suffering.
Khaled Radi, a Gaza Health Ministry spokesman, said the fumes are affecting people who already suffer from respiratory problems. "What we don't know if its making their conditions worse, or whether its causing people to become ill," he said.
Those health concerns prompted the Hamas-run government last month to try to ban vegetable oil mixes. But with no other alternatives, drivers are defiant.
"If that runs out, we'll find something else," vowed Khadour, tapping his bright red Mercedes.
MyWay
Other motorists have experimented with different concoctions added to cooking oil, including shots of diesel, motor oil, kerosene, pesticides and even air freshener, as ways around Israeli-imposed fuel restrictions in the Gaza Strip.
Still others have converted gas-run cars to electric batteries.
It's hardly a green revolution in the most impoverished part of the Palestinian territories. It's more about practical, home-school chemistry lessons: figuring out what brew will keep the cars moving as regular gas prices soar to about $27 a gallon on the black market - nearly two weeks wages for many Gazans.
Yet, every solution comes with a downside. The price of cooking gas has doubled and those inhaling the potent fumes complain of vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps.
A dense smell of fried food lingers over Gaza City's Palestine Square, the once-bustling transport hub for the territory. Where the cars line up for customers, there's an impromptu cooking oil "station" - stacked boxes of cooking oil on the side of the road, to quickly refill waiting cars.
Drivers swap recipes as they wait for customers in the square and in the nearby Hakawati cafe.
"We all gossip here, and everybody contributes what they know," said Mahmoud Jindiyeh, who sells taxi tickets. Some hawkers wear masks to dodge the sticky fumes. Passers-by cover their mouths as they quickly walk through the square - once a popular shopping destination. Now few people linger and vendors leave early.
Israel began scaling back fuel supplies to Gaza in January to pressure Palestinian militants to halt rocket barrages at neighboring Jewish communities. A cease-fire to begin on Thursday will let in more supplies, but fuel shipments will not resume immediately and it is not clear when relief might arrive for Gaza's beleaguered motorists.
Supplies have lurched between increased restrictions, a Palestinian distributors' strike and militants brazenly attacking the crossing where supplies are pumped in.
Israel says it supplies enough fuel for civilian taxi drivers and accuses the ruling Hamas militant group of hoarding stock. Ziad Zaza, a Hamas government official, said it takes fuel supplies to ensure it goes to priority needs, like hospitals, water wells and garbage collection. Smaller amounts are rationed to residents.
The shortages have spawned an expensive black market. Sellers hawk hoarded supplies and smugglers bring in plastic gallons filled with fuel through tunnels that crisscross southern Gaza into neighboring Egypt. Gas reaches $7.20 a liter, or about $27 a gallon, and diesel is $6.30 a liter, about $24 a gallon.
Most Gazans live on less than $2 a day and rely on the far steadier, cheaper supply of vegetable oil.
Tim Shallcross, a U.K.-based alternative fuel expert, said any car with an old diesel motor can run on vegetable oil, though over the long term it can cause some rust and clogging of filters. Gaza has some 32,000 registered diesel cars.
"We find alternatives to everything," boasted Khadour, the taxi driver. He mixes four gallons of vegetable oil with one gallon of turpentine in a plastic tank that he attaches to the motor filter. Khadour created the recipe himself after working for years in Israeli mechanic shops.
Some drivers have rituals. Jamal Othman gingerly pours a liter of expensive diesel into the engine of his beat-up Mercedes. He then pours in three liters of sunflower oil, and tops it off with another liter of diesel. It's worked for the past five days, the cabbie said. Cars might suffer long-term corrosion, though, because of the water content in vegetable oil, Shallcross said.
While other countries use biofuels, they are adapted to ensure plumes of potentially poisonous smoke aren't emitted. In Gaza, residents say the alternative fuel is making them sick.
"I don't eat anymore," said 14-year-old Mohammed Sweisi, who sells bunches of peppermint in Palestine Square. Despite the fragrance of the mint, he also wore a mask.
Sweisi said he recently purchased medicine for severe headaches and stomach pains. "My stomach doesn't hurt anymore, but I don't feel like eating," he said. By late afternoon, Sweisi said he'd only drunk a cup of tea.
Gaza's tabloid-style radio stations warn residents of developing cancer. Health officials say they are worried, but have no studies to explain the illnesses Gaza residents are suffering.
Khaled Radi, a Gaza Health Ministry spokesman, said the fumes are affecting people who already suffer from respiratory problems. "What we don't know if its making their conditions worse, or whether its causing people to become ill," he said.
Those health concerns prompted the Hamas-run government last month to try to ban vegetable oil mixes. But with no other alternatives, drivers are defiant.
"If that runs out, we'll find something else," vowed Khadour, tapping his bright red Mercedes.
MyWay
posted by madtom at 10:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home