SPOTLIGHT: GAZA LUXURY

IN THE WORLD’S LARGEST

PRISON!

FEBRUARY 26, 2014 RACHEL MOLSCHKY 18 COMMENTS

From News and Views from Jews Down Under, by Shirlee Finn:

The Arab world and Leftists would have you believe Gaza is a living hell, with every commodity and necessity of life absent.

When one looks however, it is a whole different scenario.

Peter Hitchens in the Mail Online writes:

”It is lunchtime in the world’s biggest prison camp, and I am enjoying a rather good café latte in an elegant beachfront cafe. Later I will visit the sparkling new Gaza Mall, and then eat an excellent beef stroganoff in an elegant restaurant. “

This piece started out as a ‘sort of’ fun-cum-sarcastic piece being aware of the quantity of 5-star hotels, the nightclubs, shopping malls, restaurants and more in Gaza. However, as I searched for images and information, I came across a whole other side of Gaza which I don’t think many people know exists.

Roots Club is an up-market restaurant and catering company in Gaza. Critics said at its opening they expect the restaurant to bring“a new era of hospitality and dining experience.”

The club is located on Cairo Street in the Gaza district of Rimal. It features three different dining venues, the informal, outdoor Green Terrace Café, the Ambassador catering hall and the air-conditioned Roots Restaurant. One restaurant reviewer described the atmosphere as “vaguely reminiscent of the Anglo-Indian country-clubs of the colonial era.”

Roots Hotel overlooking Gaza Beach. 9th Feb 2014

A reviewer called the menu, which features twelve different meat dishes, chicken prepared thirteen different ways, and eight pasta preparations in addition to an array of salads, appetizers, desserts, and nine kinds of soup served “only in winter,” truly staggering.

Lonely Planet calls the Roots Club, “the best” restaurant in Gaza.

There is now also a ‘Roots Hotel’ facebook here

There is plethora of restaurants and coffee shops, too numerous to list and most with their own facebook pages.

The Mazaj – Restaurant – Coffee shop – Express (take away) has an extensive menu and is a splendid example of what one would never expect to see in Gaza.

Something which certainly surprised me were the horse riding establishments in Gaza.

The Faisal Equestrian Club (نادي الفيصل للفروسية‎) is an equestrian club and upscale restaurant in Gaza. According to the Australian newspaper ‘The Age’, the Club’s restaurant is “The place to be seen for Gaza’s teenage elite.”

The Club serves non-alcoholic Bavarian beer to a wealthy, young, secular crowd, among whom “Headscarves are frowned upon.”

Inside the Jabaliya riding club in the north of Gaza, there are neat lawns and stalls for 40 to 50 horses, many of which are privately owned. Like the villas and luxury cars, they are proof that not everyone in Gaza is poverty-stricken.

And yet, the only images brought to us by the international media are those of death and destruction by the ‘Zionists’ read ‘Jews.’

Call it a wealthy side, call it an elite side. It certainly is a privileged side and certainly not the ordinary image. The side which the media presents is no doubt in existence, but choose for propaganda reasons only to show the bad.

This brings something back a friend told me after a visit to Israel a few years ago. She had been staying with a family member in Jerusalem. Late one afternoon, he told her that he had invited his foreman with his wife to dinner. She was however surprised when the foreman turned out to be an Arab, complete with hijabbed wife. Still no issue. She speaks no Hebrew, but being raised in Egypt, she speaks Arabic and so was able to converse with him.

The conversation was quite an eye opener. For lack of a name, let’s call him Malik. Malik told her how proud he was to be an Israeli, what a good life he and his family have. How his children have free education, free medical needs and the chance for further education, though not before completing their IDF service. Malik however became quite angry when he spoke about ‘do-gooders & leftists’ from the West who interfered. He told her about Gaza. He told her how parts of Gaza are deliberately left in ruins, so that when the ‘do-gooders & leftists’ come to look at the shocking condition people live in thanks to the ‘Zionist entity’, they can take home the negative images we see in the west.

What we hear about the misuse of international aid fits in here very nicely.

Admittedly this is not new, 2002, but “Paying for Terrorism” by Rachel Ehrenfeld says plenty and there is no reason to believe anything has changed since the Arafat days, who left quite a money trail behind him.

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the international community has donated approximately $5 billion to the Palestinian Authority. The European Union alone has donated approximately €1.4 billion during that time, including grants to United Nations Relief and Work Agency. Since the start of the Palestinian Authority’s campaign of violence against Israel in September 2000, the EU has transferred at least €330 million to the Palestinian territories.

More recent news here at Middle East Forum. U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians. The Jewish Chronicle on line – £2bn in aid that the EU has given the Palestinian Authority over the past five years has been squandered through corruption and mismanagement.

This article from 2012 “How Many Millionaires Live in the “Impoverished” Gaza Strip?” by Khaled Abu Toameh throws a good deal of light on Gaza.

The world often thinks of the Gaza Strip, home to 1.4 millionPalestinians, as one of the poorest places on earth, where people live in misery and squalor.

But according to an investigative report published in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, there are at least 600 millionaires living in the Gaza Strip. The newspaper report also refutes the claim that the Gaza Strip has been facing a humanitarian crisis because of an Israeli blockade.

And

The Palestinian millionaires, according to the report, have made their wealth thanks to the hundreds of underground tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Informed Palestinian sources revealed that every day, in addition to weapons, thousands of tons of fuel, medicine, various types of merchandise, vehicles, electrical appliances, drugs, medicine and cigarettes are smuggled into the Gaza Strip through more than 400 tunnels. A former Sudanese government official who visited the Gaza Strip lately was quoted as saying that he found basic goods that were not available in Sudan. Almost all the tunnels are controlled by the Hamas government, which has established a special commission to oversee the smuggling business, which makes the Hamas government the biggest benefactor of the smuggling industry.

Gaza boasts some eight universities as well as other institutes of learning all having curriculums equivalent to any international university.

The beaches in Gaza are some of the finest in that part of the world, where according to ynet news we have a definite class distinction issue. Those with money clearly having an advantage regarding luxury.

A new class division has emerged with the adoption of the Israeli model of closed beaches, which have turned into status symbols

A Beit Hanoun resident told Ynet that he and his family spend the afternoon on the beach, bringing with them food, drinks, and blankets and paying only for the travel fare. However, he noted that his wife’s dream is to spend one day in the newly-introduced beach cabins.

As a way of tackling the financial state, the Strip has begun renting out beaches to private owners for up to thousands of dollars.

The Beit Hanoun resident explained that there are a variety of closed beaches, the cheapest of which charge NIS 10 ($ 2.63) upon entry and provide parasols and chairs. Others charge NIS 15 ($3.94) per person, while all other services are subject to payment.

Parasols and chairs. Beach for the middle-class.

“You would have to pray to get away with less than NIS 200 ($ 52.53) for such an evening and that’s something that few can afford,” he noted.

Finally, there are the expensive canopied beaches which offer giant TV screens and a waiter serving food and drinks.

Consequently, three groups emerged on Gaza’s beaches:

“The poor ones who sit on blankets with food from home; those who can afford renting out chairs and parasols; and the very few, the spoiled rich, who sit in roofed cabins with giant screens and a waiter serving food and drinks.”

TV screens and waiters in expensive bungalows “An evening with the family there would cost you several hundred shekels. It’s a distant dream.” — TV screens and waiters in expensive bungalows
“An evening with the family there would cost you several hundred shekels. It’s a distant dream.”

Then for the wealthy, we have luxurious beach side hotels catching the beautiful ocean views, far, far superior to the image the Leftists would have us see of Gaza.

The hotel has received a number of very positive reviews in Time magazine, by British journalist Alan Johnston and by Lonely Planet which describes the Al Deira as “swish, stylish and tightly run,” and “without question the best hotel in town.”

Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg has said that in the evenings

“it brimmed over with members of haute Palestine, that small clique of Gazans who earned more than negligible incomes. The men smoked apple-flavored tobacco from water pipes; the women, their heads covered, drank strong coffee and kept quiet.”

5 star Al-Mashtal Hotel – Video link

Al Deira Hotel – pps

To cap it off what about one of the Water Parks? I might add newly refurbished, because some time ago Hamas, in its infinite wisdom, caused massive damage to it as they didn’t like the fact men and women were associating with one another. The mind boggles!

Dolphin Resort: facebook

Good photos at IsraellyCool

ArcMed Hotel Almashtal Gaza***** from sandra gomez on Vimeo.

The Elder of Ziyon blogspot tells us there are 5 amusement parks in Gaza, amongst other things.

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We hear about the food shortages and yet the markets appear to have ample supply of fresh produce……

… with no shortage of food in the shops either.

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The Other Side of Gaza is a writing programme that provides students with an opportunity to showcase their own personal view of Gaza.

Abdallah El-Khoudary describes the best things a good restaurant can give you, and nowhere is better for him in Gaza than the Avenue Restaurant. From the delicious scallopini and the wonderful waiters to the free internet and complimentary chocolate; the Avenue is a perfect retreat.

I’m proud to be in my country, and to rise the Palestinian flag, and to give the real image of Gaza to the people who visit it. Gaza is not just the damage and the shelters we see in the media. Gaza is a city, like any city in the world, with its own landmarks and places, it just needs its freedom.

Luxury in the World’s Largest Prison!

Gaza

Located on the Mediterranean seashore, 32 km north of the Egyptian border, Gaza City is considered one of the most ancient towns in the world. Strategically placed on the Mediterranean coastal route, ancient Gaza was a prosperous trade centre and a stop on the caravan route between Egypt and Syria.

Gaza was a major Philistine city in the early Iron Age, and the site of the Canaanite God of fertility, Dagon. Gaza City is mentioned a number of times in the Bible, especially as the place, where according to tradition, Samson brought down the Philistine temple. In 734 BC the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III captured Gaza and the city remained under Assyrian control until the middle of the seventh century BC. In the sixth century Gaza became an important royal fortress under the Babylonians. The city of Gaza flourished during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. It was mentioned by the ancient Greek writer Herodouts as Kadytis. In 332 BC, the city was captured by Alexander the Great after a long siege. During the Roman Period, Gaza became a major urban centre, with temples dedicated to Zeus, Aphropdite, Apollo and the major local deity Marnas. The city was expanded beyond the ancient settlement and the ancient port of Maiumas was established. During the Byzantine Period, the name of the city was changed to Constantia and a large church was built on the site of the temple of Marnas in the fifth century AD. The city was depicted on the Madab mosaic map from the sixth century as a large city with colonnaded streets and a large basilica in the centre. It was shown also on the mosaic floor of the church of St. Stephen at Umm Er-Rasas, from the eighth century. In 636, Gaza came under Islamic rule. It became famous as the burial place of Hashim, the grandfather of prophet Mohammed and as the birthplace of Al-Shafia. The church of John the Baptist was built on the site of the Eudoxiana. In 1187 the city was captured by Saladin and became part of the Ayyubid state. Gaza was a regional capital during the Mamluk period. In 1516 the city of Gaza fell to the Ottoman Empire and became the capital of the province of Palestine. It flourished during this period as a main trade centre and a station on the main trade route between Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia. Gaza was under British rule from 1918 to1948, and to the Egyptian rule between 1948 and 1967, when it fell under Israeli occupation in 1967. Following the transfer of authority to the Palestinians in 1995, Gaza was again under the control of its people.

Today, Gaza City is the economic centre for a region where citrus fruits and other crops are grown. The city is famous for its hand-woven carpets, wicker furniture, and pottery. Famous also for its fresh seafood, Gaza has numerous restaurants along the beach as well as public parks where visitors can enjoy the pleasant Mediterranean breeze.

The Great Mosque

Located in downtown Gaza at the end of Omar Mukhtar Street, the Great Mosque or Al-Umari Mosque features a beautiful minaret. It was originally a Norman church built by the Crusaders in the twelfth century. It is said to occupy the site of the first ancient temple of Marnas.

Napoleon’s Fort

Located on Al-Wahda Street in downtown Gaza, this imposing stone building dates back to the Mamluk period. It is known as Qasr Al-Basha (The Pasha’s Palace) because Napoleon (referred to as the ‘Pasha’) spent a few nights here on his way through the town in 1799.

Saint Porphyrus Church

This fourth century church is where Saint Porphyrus died and was buried in 420 AD. It is located in the Gaza’s Old City and is still used by the Greek Orthodox Community.

Al-Zaytun Quarter

Gaza’s oldest quarter, Al-Zaytun contains many beautiful old homes with impressive carved wooden doorways. A Catholic and a Protestant Church are also located in this quarter.

Al-Daraj Quarter

This quarter in the Old City that features the Abdulhamid Public Fountain. This fountain was built in the sixteenth century and renovated by the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid in 1893.

Sayyed Hashem Mosque

Located in the Al-Daraj Quarter, the mosque is one of the biggest and most beautiful in Gaza. The tomb of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandfather Hashem Bin Abdulmanaf, who died in Gaza during a trading voyage, is believed to be under the dome of the mosque.

Anthedon Port

Anthedon is the first known seaport of Gaza mentioned in Islamic literature along with Tida. The city was inhabited from 800 BC to 1100 AD, and witnessed a series of different cultures: Neo-Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic (Umayyad, Abbasid, Tulunid, and Fatimid).

One km south of the seaport of Anthedon is the ancient harbour of Maiumas, which was once identified as the harbour of Gaza. It has been continuously populated and during the Roman period became a flourishing, well-developed coastal town. Maiumas, which is mentioned only in late classical sources, dates back to an earlier period when Gaza’s trade with Greece began. Maiumas comes from an Egyptian word meaning ‘maritime place.’

The archaeological site of ancient Anthedon has not been precisely identified. There are several heaps of ruins in various neighbourhoods of Gaza City, which have been considered to be the old harbour. However, the site of Anthedon is probably a hill located to the north of Gaza known to the locals as Tida. In the Middle Ages, Anthedon was known as Tida or Taida.

The present site consists of the ruins of a Roman temple and a section of a wall, as well as Roman artisan quarters and a series of villas. Mosaic floors, warehouses, and fortified structures were also found in the area. The site’s archaeological remains date from the late Iron Age, as well as from the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. The excavated site is about five acres. It consists of a well-preserved 65-metre mud brick wall, which once surrounded the old commercial city centre. The massive walls stretch 30 metres eastwards at the extraordinary height of 8 m and thickness of 6 m.

Tell Um Amer

The first settlement on this site, Tell Umm Amer, was established during the Roman era in Wadi Gaza close to the seashore. It appears on the Madaba map under the name Tabatha and was inhabited from the Byzantine to the early Islamic period (400 to 670 AD). Tell Umm Amer was the birthplace of Saint Hilarion, who had received an excellent education in Alexandria, and had gone to Antonius in the desert for further instruction. He founded a monastery in the third century, and is considered as the founder of monastic life in Palestine. The monastery was destroyed in 614 AD.

The site contains the ruins of the monastery of Saint Hilarion, (born in 291 AD. It consists of two churches, a burial site, a baptism hall, a public cemetery, an audience hall, and several dining rooms. The monastery had many facilities, including water cisterns, clay ovens and drainage channels. Its floors were made of limestone, marble tiles, and coloured mosaics depicting plant and animal scenes. The floors also include a Greek inscription decorated with circular motifs. In addition, the monastery was equipped with large baths that could adequately serve the pilgrims and merchants travelling from Egypt to the Fertile Crescent through Via Maris.

Khan Yunis

Located 25 km south of Gaza City, Khan Yunis is a market town for the agricultural produce from local villages. It features a fortress built in the thirteenth century as a garrison for soldiers guarding pilgrims on their journey from Jerusalem to Mecca. The weekly market in the town centre is a fascinating picture of traditional life.

Rafah

Located on the southern tip of Gaza, Rafah is a beach town with sand dunes and date palms. This Canaanite town was called Rafia by the Greeks and the Romans, and some ancient mosques and archaeological sites, as well as a mosaic floor have been found there.

Deir Al-Balah

Well known for its beaches and palm trees, recent excavations of this southern Gaza town uncovered a cemetery dating back to the late Bronze Age, along with pottery, tombs, bronze pots, and a mosaic floor. Deir Al-Balah is also home to a monastery that was built by Saint Hilarion, (born in 291 AD).

Wadi Gaza

This wadi is distinct for its twists and turns. It has eight major curves in its path across the Gaza Strip. Its width varies, with its widest point near its mouth where it reaches about 100 m. Six smaller rivers feed into the main valley, the most important of which are Wadi Abu Qatroun to the north and Wadi Ghalbeh to the south.

The location of the Gaza Strip at the corner of the land bridge connecting the continents of Africa and Eurasia, makes it a bottleneck for migratory birds. Thousands of ducks, herons, storks, cranes, flamingos, waders, raptors, quails, passerines, and other birds have been reported to pass through Wadi Gaza. The most common endemic bird is the Palestinian sunbird (Nectarinia osea), which is found throughout the year at the Gaza Strip.

Studies show that there is an urgent need to protect the Wadi Gaza as a wildlife habitat. The threats to the area are quite severe. Wadi Gaza faces many environmental problems. One of the most pressing problems is that it is used to collect sewage from refugee camps and as a solid waste dumping site.

A Taste of “Concentration Camp” Gaza: Al-Mathaf Hotel

Posted by: Aussie Dave in General July 28, 2011

Aussie Dave

Head Honcho at Israellycool

An Aussie immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave is founder and managing editor of Israellycool, one of the world's most popular pro-Israel blogs (and the one you are currently reading) He is a happy family man, and a lover of steak, Australian sports and girlie drinks

Inspired by the Gaza mall photos, I have featured on this blog various facilities from Gaza, with the aim of providing readers with a glimpse into the real Gaza, which is anything but a concentration camp as some claim.

My point is not that there is no hardship in Gaza, but rather that the situation is a far cry from what is being presented by the palestinians, their supporters and the mainstream media.

Introducing Gaza’s Al-Mathaf Hotel.

[click on any image to enlarge]

From the website:

Featuring 34 spacious guestrooms, including 6 elegant suites (2 presidential and 4 royal suites, ranging between 60-150 sqm), most rooms and suites also have private balconies. All rooms in Al Mathaf are furnished and equipped to match the highest hospitality standards and the whole hotel overlooks a stunning view of the Mediterranean Sea to ensure that you have an unforgettable experience in Gaza.

The hotel contains 17 single rooms, 6 double rooms, 8 senior suites and 1 royal suite, with 5 of the rooms and suites having 5 large balconies, and 2 with small ones. Features and facilities include free high speed Internet access, and laundry and dry cleaning services. Classic single and double rooms contain a 32 inch LCD TV with remote control, Satellite TV channels, work desk with lamp, on demand laptop , electrical adapters, and power converters, dining table with two chairs and a sofa, telephone with international call support, a mini refrigerator, air conditioning, a wardrobe and a bathroom.

There’s also a multi-functional indoor hall, 5 meeting rooms equipped with Wireless internet, ISDN line for Video conferences, LCD projectors & flipchart boards, as well as a Business Center with computer workstations, laptop rentals, printing, faxing and copier services, and high speed wireless internet access.

Oh yeah, and there’s currently a 20% discount on services provided by the restaurant for employees of NGOs!

More here and here.

-Photos of besieged Gaza.

Red Cross official: “There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza” *

.
* Red Cross Official

This is gaza

by 5 star hotels with swimming pools Sunday, Mar. 03, 2013 at 11:59 PM

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Were you expecting 5 star hotels in Gaza, with luxurious swimming pools? This is the Al Mashtal resort in Gaza. Its one of many luxury accomodations on the Beach in Gaza

Water use in gaza

by since you asked Monday, Mar. 04, 2013 at 12:08 AM

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A luxury hotel was just completed in Gaza. Complete with swimming pool. Its the Al-mashtal, and its lovely. Americans aren't supposed to know, because , well, you need to believe that Gaza is poor and oppressed, even if the Gazan's live better and longer than , oh, lets say the Turks.

And you know what? Its not the only luxury resort in gaza

Almat'haf Hotel & Cultural House in gaza is more traditional

by Visit gaza Monday, Mar. 04, 2013 at 12:24 AM

If the Al-mashtal resort in gaza is too modern for your taste, you can visit the Almat'haf Hotel & Cultural House. Its more traditional, and I'm sure you'll love relaxing by their koi pond.

This is gaza. Check out their facebook page. Almat'haf Hotel & Cultural House http://www.facebook.com/mathaf.hotel/photos_stream

https://www.facebook.com/mathaf.hotel

Palestinians jump into a pool at Crazy Water Park in Gaza City, Aug. 3, 2010. (photo by REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)

Local tourism in Gaza witnesses cautious growth

KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip — Ibrahim Hamed, 25, and his friends are planning to spend a day at a small private resort in the coastal area of Sheikh Ajlin in Gaza, where resorts are among the entertainment options.

Israel Under Biblical Scriptures

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Arab GAZA 2015 in luxury