Customs duties for goods coming from Iran never make it to Kabul.
"First I like to have my goods coming from Germany," he said.
"Customers are looking at provenance – where are their goods coming from?
Ever confident, Mr. Silverman believes that he has the goods coming next fall.
Any goods coming to Gaza from Egypt still have to pass through an Israeli-controlled land crossing at Kerem Shalom.
These days it also distributes Asian goods coming in through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
Today, other experts assume that similar routes are being used for looted goods coming out of Syria and Iraq.
For the $152 billion worth of goods coming in from China last year, those savings have already been realized.
With the crossings to Israel closed and minimal goods coming in, Mr. Zahar said: "Rafah is our only lung.
"We've actively discouraged this circulation of goods coming in and going straight out again," says McNulty Bauer.
Economists here say what is most needed now is not more goods coming in, as the easing of the blockade has permitted, but people and exports getting out.
