漁師からレストラン経営へ、時代と共に変わる客層　ガザ地区

【ガザ地区ＡＦＰ＝時事】パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区は、外国人の美食家にとってはほぼ立ち入ることができない場所だが、沿岸部には海の幸を楽しめるレストランがいくつもある。その多くは、ある地元の一族によって営まれている──アブハシラ家だ。（写真はアブハシラ家の営むレストランで働くムスタファ・アブハシラさん）
　アブハシラ家は数十年にわたり漁業を営んできた。だが１９７０年代に最初のレストランを開業して以来、漁に使う道具は、少しずつ調理用具に替わってきた。
　８０代のイード・アブハシラさんは、自身が一家では最後の漁師だと語る。
　イードさんが幼いころに母親が作ってくれたというタジン鍋の魚料理が、アブハシラ家のレストランの看板メニューだ。
　レストランの利用客は時代とともに変化してきた。
　「第１次インティファーダ（反イスラエル闘争）が始まるまで、レストランは満員だった。イスラエル人も観光客も食べに来ていた」と、一族の一人であるモイーン・アブハシラさん（５６）は１９８７年の民衆蜂起以前について振り返った。
　だが２００７年にイスラム原理主義組織ハマスの自治政府内閣が発足し、イスラエルによる封鎖が始まってからは、外国人観光客や美食家、フードライターの足が遠のいた。
　現在、一族が経営するレストランの顧客は、主にパレスチナの富裕層だ。だが、ガザ地区の失業率が約５０％に上るなか、厳しいかじ取りを強いられているとモイーンさんは語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/10/29-08:03）

The Gaza Strip might be off-limits for foreign foodies but the coastal Palestinian enclave is brimming with seafood restaurants, many owned by one local family whose culinary hook is their matriarch's spicy fish tajine.
Munir Abu Hasira arrives at the Gaza port's fish market at daybreak, but holds back as traders snatch up sardines and other fish caught during the night.
He is angling for more discerning catches like grouper, sea bream and large shrimp, which can go for around 70 shekels ($22) a kilo -- a small fortune in the impoverished enclave, under Israeli blockade since 2007.
It's expensive because of the economic situation, but we buy the fish to supply restaurants and to export to the occupied West Bank, he says, as workers pile fresh fish into a van.
For decades, the Abu Hasira family were fishermen, but since opening their first restaurant in the 1970s, they have gradually traded their fishing kit for chef's tools.
Gaza fishermen say they struggle to eke out a living, snared by Israeli restrictions on the enclave's fishing zone and on importing equipment into the enclave, from boat motors to sonar devices for finding shoals.
Problems like overfishing and pollution blight the local industry.
Some 4,200 tonnes of fish and seafood were netted from Gaza's waters last year, according to the Israeli authorities. Just 300 tonnes were exported to the West Bank.
Sitting on a chair in a Gaza courtyard, Eid Abu Hasira, in his 80s, said he was the last of the family's fishermen.
I sold everything in 2013, said the head of the family, sporting a white moustache and wearing a traditional robe and headdress.
Today, we are in the fish trade, and have 13 Abu Hasira restaurants, he said, clutching Muslim prayer beads as he leaned on a wooden cane.
- No Michelin stars -
One of his ancestors was a prominent Jewish Moroccan rabbi, who died during a trip to Egypt in the 19th century.
A descendent in Egypt had a vision that they had to go to Gaza, Eid Abu Hasira said.
So we came here. My grandfather chose to live off the sea, he said, adding that a Jewish branch of the family lives in Israel, while those in Gaza are Muslim.
As a young boy, his mother would cook up a seafood tajine that has become the Abu Hasira family chain's signature dish.
Moeen Abu Hasira, 56, paid homage to his family's culinary heritage, from their signature shrimp and tomato tajine, known as zibdiyit, to a fish tajine made with tahini, herbs and pine nuts, to grilled grouper.
The secret of Gaza cuisine is strong chili, he said from the kitchen of his restaurant, which he opened earlier this year.
The Abu Hasira family's clientele has changed over time.
Until the start of the first intifada, our restaurants were packed. Israelis came to eat here and so did tourists, Moeen Abu Hasira said, referring to the first Palestinian uprising in 1987.
Since the Israeli blockade began in 2007 after the Islamist group Hamas took control of the enclave, few international tourists, foodies or gastronomic guide writers have visited.
Now, the family's restaurants cater to a well-off Palestinian clientele, but Moeen Abu Hasira said times were hard as unemployment in Gaza hovers around 50 percent.
Nobody will give you a star in recognition of your restaurant, said the chef, who trained in French cuisine in a restaurant in the Israeli city of Jaffa.
We did not learn in cooking schools or universities. There is none of that in Gaza, he said. We all learn from each other.