Israel's blockade of Gaza, has restricted imports to the enclave and crushed traditional exports, and forced Palestinian entrepreneurs to turn to the internet in hopes of gaining access to new foreign markets through selling personalized cell phone ringtones, reports Reuters.

Haitham Abu Shaaban of Tatweer Business Services, working with a local recording studio, recently obtained a new contract with Dubai Telecoms Company "du" to sell his ringtones to the rest of the Arab world.

Waiting to finalize the deal in a few weeks, he will further develop an existing business in Gaza that provides customers with tailor-made musical jingles for their phones by creating a wider customer base throughout the Middle East.

Israel withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation. An economic blockade imposed on borders with both Israel and Egypt has crippled Gaza's economy and has been tightened since Hamas Islamists seized control in 2007.

"The fact that Gaza has been under siege has stopped us from developing exports. But we thought there was a way around this," said Abu Shaaban, who has partnered with Mashareq Studios in the deal with the Dubai Telecoms Company. The news site also reports that Gaza singers are lining up at the studios to record ringtone songs in a variety of styles, ranging from rap to jazz.

Abu Shaaban and Mashareq are banking on bigger revenues by offering du's 3 million subscribers a completely personalized service at higher rates, where singers would work customers' full names and special messages and wordings into one-off jingles.

The entrepreneurs are reluctant to put forecasts on earnings but among special features of the Gaza output is the ability to sing in not just a variety of musical styles but in the very wide variety of Arab dialects, from North Africa to the Gulf.

The Internet has made exporting services from Gaza possible. "Gaza has its own excellent potential talent," Abu Shaaban said. "Through our work Arab clients have acknowledged that."

In related news, religious ringtones may also trigger the wrath of Muslim clerics who believe that verses of the Quran used as ringtones will “trivialize the word of God,” reports All Things Digital.

In response to a growing trend of using verses from the Quran or the prayer call for ringtones among Muslim cell phone owners , the Grand Mufti of Egypt and the country’s highest religious legal authority Ali Gomaa said that the practice “violates the sanctity of the divine words.”

Citing his concern that the ringtone may confuse people by making them believe it is prayer time, the Mufti added in a fatwa he issued for this particular instance, “Picking up the phone is sure to interrupt the verse and this is disrespectful to the holy book.” Instead, cell phone users might replace the ringtones with other religious songs.