As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches, crafts workers are faced with a heavy load of preparation work. Mohammed Abu Amer, a carpenter who specialises in the manufacture of lanterns, says he starts preparing for Ramadan "months in advance" in order to meet the "high customer demand," at a his lantern-making workshop in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. At her Gaza gift shop, Rana al-Kurdi says that "People prefer to buy handcrafted products because they're special," adding that handcrafted products are "different to what's available on the market." IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES