Gaza, ALTAY  - The industrial sector in Gaza Strip witnesses its worst days since years due to the tightening Israeli siege on Gaza Strip which  prevented  the entry of raw materials needed to run the factories.  The production wheel of most factories in the enclave stopped , forcing its owners to discharge their workers until the crisis is over, to avoid more financial losses.

 Coloring glass industry has been  affected significantly  as the Israeli occupation has the right , under Gaza-Jericho Agreement Annex IV-Economic Protocol, to control the kind of  industrial and economical projects in Gaza and its finance.  

ALRY  made an interview with Al-Haj Musalam Abdula'al the owner of a  glass factory  about this issue.

Abdula'al defined   glass as colorless materials made by melting together several minerals at a very high temperatures. Silica,  in the form of sand,  is the main ingredient and this is combined with soda ash and  limestone then  melted in a furnace at temperatures of 1700°C. Other materials can be added to produce different colors or properties.

Abdulaal said that the history of glassmaking can be traced back to 2000 BC since then it entered in many aspects of  human life where it uses in producing  utensils and decorative materials including jewelry.

 He continued " in the past the glass was used for  architectural and industrial uses as  the oldest glass materials were beads; the hallow pots weren’t recognized until 1500 BC."

 He explained that the basic components of the glass are silica which derived from sand, flint and quartz that are melted down in very high temperatures to produce molten silica glass.

 He told ALRAY that they use modern techniques in forming and coloring glass like drawing by laser, drilling by sand, and manual and automatic, pointing out that he has the first and only  laser drawing  machine in the Gaza Strip.

The process of glass digging  made by putting a layer of jelly on the glass to make an insulating layer and then they choose the painting they want among huge number of available graphics then hey design it carefully according to the needed size, Abdulaal said.

He added " we enter the glass into a digital machine CNC and then give the order for computer to start the process and empty the painting to the required form and then enter the painting into the automatic sand machine then we remove the jelly layer to enter the glass into the heat glass washing  machine."

Abdulaal explained that to draw and color by laser they cut the glass by glass cutter then they enter the glass into specialist machine to clean off the edges of the glass to remove any sharp points.

The second phase is entering the glass to the drawing machine and give it an  implementation order to obtain the final form of the required precision and the size.

Abdulal  said  that the industry of the forming and coloring glass was  greatly affected by the Israeli occupation siege imposed on Gaza Strip,  indicating that the blockade prevents the exporting and importing of many materials they need to produce glass such as mirrors glass, the reinforced glass machine "Sikorit" and the materials needed for the industry of double glazing.

 He explained that the continued of  power cut affects the glass industry "the electricity cut off cripples  the factories."

Palestinian industries are still affected by the Israeli occupation siege which is  imposed on the Gaza Strip for 8 years.