Al-Bustan resort
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Al-Bustan (eng.: ''The Garden'') is a beach resort in Gaza with restaurants, cafes and swimming pools. It is located on the beach north of Gaza City. About 800 people come on a typical day. The atmosphere is very Islamic, women wear veils and only Islamic music is played. One visitor, "wearing head-to-toe black garb and a veil" told a Reuters correspondent that "The atmosphere is Islamic. It's a place where you feel relaxed." According to the
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
, the resort was built by a "Hamas-linked charity,""New Gaza Leisure Projects Focus on Fun Not Hardship"
August 2, 2010, Reuters, New York Times.
The ceremonies were attended by
Fathi Hamad Fathi Ahmad Hamad ( ar, فتحي أحمد حماد, also spelled Fathi Hammad; born 3 January 1961, Beit Lahia, northern Gaza) is a political leader of Hamas, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. In April 2009, he was appointed Inter ...
, the Interior Minister of the Hamas-led government and other "prominent" Hamas elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council."As the Israeli blockade eases, Gaza goes shopping"
Donald Macintyre, 26 July 2010, The Independent.
According to ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', "There is a widespread assumption in Gaza that
Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...
... or at least businessmen close to the Islamic faction, are behind the venture." According to Egyptian journalist Ashraf Abu Al-Houl writing in Al-Ahram, Al-Bustan is one of a rapidly growing group of Gaza pleasure parks, including Zahrat Al-Madain and the
Crazy Water Park Crazy Water Aqua Fun Park was a water park A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas fo ...
, so many of which were completed between his visit to Gaza in February and his return in July 2010 as to make Gaza "almost unrecognizable."
translation by
MEMRI The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI; officially the "Middle East Media and Research Institute") is a nonprofit press monitoring and analysis organization co-founded by former Israeli military intelligence officer Yigal Carmon an ...
, July 28, 2010, Al Ahram,
He continues, "A sense of absolute prosperity prevails, as manifested by the grand resorts along and near Gaza's coast. Further, the sight of the merchandise and luxuries filling the Gaza shops amazed me. Merchandise is sold more cheaply than in Egypt, although most of it is from the Egyptian market, and there are added shipping costs and costs for smuggling it via the tunnels – so that it could be expected to be more expensive... the siege was broken even before Israel's crime against the ships of the Freedom Flotilla in late May; everything already was coming into the Gaza Strip from Egypt. If this weren't the case, businessmen would not have been able to build so many resorts in under four months." According to Reuters, the resort is part of a "construction boom" in "recreational facilities" that has prompted some to criticize Hamas for putting money into entertainment venues like El-Bustan and the
Crazy Water Park Crazy Water Aqua Fun Park was a water park A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas fo ...
rather than into housing and infrastructure. Two months later, Crazy Water Park was burned down by masked men, in September 2010.


References

{{Gaza City Amusement parks in the State of Palestine Companies based in the State of Palestine Tourist attractions in the State of Palestine Buildings and structures in Gaza City