Iraq News Now

Two years ago, Gaza resident Saleh Abu Serdanah took out a

small loan in order to get married and start a family. These days, the

31-year-old construction worker is on the run, hiding from police in a tiny

rental apartment and unable to repay the money he borrowed.

Abu Serdanah is among hundreds of young men who have turned

to Gaza’s small industry of wedding lenders for help, only to fall onto hard

times because of crushing debt and lack of jobs in the impoverished Palestinian

territory. Many have been forced to renegotiate their debts, and others have

gone into hiding. Some have even ended up in jail.

“I have never been into a police station and have never made

troubles. Now I’m like a fugitive crook,” Abu Serdanah said.

Wedding lenders have filled an important need in Gaza’s

conservative society, where young men and women are typically expected to marry

in their late teens or early 20s. Facing a nearly 60% unemployment rate, many

young Gazan men have been forced to put off their dreams of marriage because

they cannot afford it.

Over a decade ago, a number of wealthy people launched

charities to help young couples to pay for their weddings and settle

post-marriage debts. The initiative was promoted through ceremonial mass

weddings that thrived after Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after

the Hamas militant group took power in 2007.

These charitable efforts, which still continue, paved the

way for a profitable private industry to emerge, offering more substantial

packages that included things like bridal dresses, invitations, bedroom

furniture and meals for guests.

Allured by the idea, Abu Serdanah signed up for an offer of

$2,500 through Farha Project, one of those companies, in 2017. He acknowledges

that he would never have been able to marry without Farha. The November 2017

wedding included a bachelor’s party with a live band and a separate women’s

ceremony the following day. The company threw in invitations, catering for 60

people and a suit and dress for the couple.

Abu Serdanah agreed to repay the money in monthly payments

over two years, but managed to pay only for five months. Today, he regrets his

decision.

“I was committed to paying on time for a while, but things

have changed and made me unable to,” said Abu Serdanah, sitting on a mat

outside the apartment he shares with his wife as a candle faintly lit the dark

stairway. “There is no work, so where should I get money from?”

The blockade, aimed at weakening Hamas, has ravaged the

economy. The skyrocketing unemployment rates, combined with foreign aid cuts

and Hamas’ mismanagement, has left thousands of families dependent on food aid

and social welfare.

Economic sanctions by the West Bank-based Palestinian

Authority, ousted by Hamas in 2007, have worsened the situation. The

internationally recognized Palestinian Authority says its measures, which

include salary cuts to tens of thousands of former public servants, are aimed

at pressuring the militant Hamas group into ceding control.

Hamas, however, remains in firm control, even as the World

Bank says Gaza’s economy is in “free fall.”

A plasterer who earns 50 shekels, or about $15, a day, Abu

Serdanah was certain that he would be able to manage the payments to Farha.

But due to the weak economy, there have been few workdays

and he was unable to pay back his debt. Trying to save himself from prison, he

asked the company to reduce his monthly installment by 50%, but its lawyer

refused. Eventually, a police summons was delivered to his family’s home. He

decided not to respond.

“I don’t want to stall for time, but I really can’t pay for

now,” he said.

The Hamas-run Economy Ministry says at their peak, 20 such

companies were registered in Gaza. But their number has dropped to five as

business has withered up. The Hamas-run prosecutor’s office, the judiciary

council and the police refused requests to interview people jailed for failing

to pay their marriage debts, or even reveal their number.

But an official at Gaza’s general prosecution department,

speaking in condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the

media, said that as of last year, courts have investigated 3,000 such cases.

This explains why the business is no longer thriving. Salama

al-Awadi, manager of Farha Project, says only 7% of his clients managed to pay

the monthly installments fully this year and 40% could not pay back at all. The

others pay less than the agreed amount.

“We see with our eyes that the situation is hard, so we try

all possible ways before resorting to the courts,” al-Awadi said, noting that

his company has fallen into debt because of its customers’ struggles. Unable to

collect payments, Farha owes money to service providers like carpenters and

caterers.

With economic recession in Gaza, the number of clients is

also dwindling. In 2018, the average monthly number of grooms signing up for

contracts at Farha was 20. The year before, it was 35.

“This year would be way less,” al-Awadi said. “I canceled

many contracts and our plan for 2019 is to get by with the minimum. If it

remains like this, I will have no choice but to shut down.”

One of al-Awadi’s clients is 29-year-old Yehiya Taleb, whose

four brothers, all married, believed it was problematic by Gaza’s standards to

reach that age and still be single.

Taleb got a job working as a waiter at a cafe earning about

$180 a month but that amount is not enough to cover wedding expenses. Anxious

to fulfill the wish of their ailing mother, the brothers resorted to Farha

Project and took out a $2,000 package.

After getting married early in May, Taleb and his wife now

share a rental house in the Shati refugee camp with another brother’s family.

Afraid of “failure,” he is already stressed out over how to repay the loan. He

hopes to make ends meet with some help from his brothers.

“My salary can’t cover my demands. With installments, you

can cover a little part of them,” he said.