There's little if any regulation of the bird trade in Gaza, where unemployment hovers around 50%. At some pet stores in Gaza, a pair is resold for twice as much. Al-Najjar says he gets 30 shekels (around $10) for a pair of parakeets. Once they've netted their quarry, the trappers return to Gaza's crowded cities, where they sell the parakeets to pet shops. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller battles over the years, and earlier this month Gaza saw three days of heavy fighting between Israel and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.Ī bird-catcher was shot dead by Israeli forces last year, and Palestinian rights groups say several trappers have been shot at. Israel has imposed a 300-meter (yard) buffer zone along the fence and forces closely monitor the border, looking for any Palestinians suspected of trying to sneak into Israel, plant explosives or dig attack tunnels.
Past tense of ring up portable#
The Palestinian bird catchers on the other side lure them with chirping played on portable speakers and catch them in nets and other traps. The birds nest on Israeli farms on the other side of the fence but fly into Gaza when workers head into the fields to tend crops. “I catch them to make a living and feed my children.” “It’s a beautiful bird, and everyone loves it,” said Khaled al-Najjar, a trapper and father of two. In Gaza, the bright green birds with red beaks are sought-after as caged songbirds. Their quarry is ring-necked parakeets, an invasive species of tropical bird that has proliferated in Israel and the Palestinian territories in recent years, most likely after being brought there as pets. It's a rare if meager source of income in Gaza, which has been under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade since the militant Hamas group seized power 15 years ago. KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - They fan out along the tense frontier with Israel in the pre-dawn darkness, setting traps and training their eyes on the other side of the separation fence - where the parakeets are.ĭozens of Palestinian men and boys have taken up bird trapping in recent years.
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