Awwwww, Mohammad's family is traumatized because the FBI questioned him about a Muslim terrorist. Duh!
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: EnemyWithin-American Leave a comment »Mohammad Iqbal threatens to sue the FBI after agents grilled him about the Times Square bombing plot for five hours as his terrified children watched inside their home.
An outraged Long Island limo driver had a message Friday for his five small kids: Daddy’s no terrorist. ”I don’t want my kids to be told their father’s a terrorist,” a still-seething Iqbal said at his Shirley, L.I., home. (Hey, if the rag fits….)
Iqbal, 45, wants an apology for what he deemed racial profiling after FBI agents pounded on his suburban front door around 6 a.m. Thursday.
The federal agents took four computers, two cell phones, a journal – and his dignity, Iqbal said. “They harassed me in front of my kids,” said the 45-year-old Pakistan immigrant. “They could have done it in a different way. My kids couldn’t sleep all night. My whole family’s so scared.” (My heart bleeds for you. NOT)
Iqbal, whose children run in age from 2 to 9, said his eldest was afraid to leave the house for school. “People are going to ask me if my father’s a terrorist,” the boy told his dad.
FBI spokesman Jim Margolin disputed Iqbal’s claims, saying the raid was properly handled. “The FBI doesn’t engage in ethnic or racial profiling,” Margolin said. “Our position is that he and the other occupants were treated properly.”
Iqbal met with a lawyer to discuss his legal options. Agents mostly asked about his friendMuhammad Younis, whose Centereach, L.I., home was also raided, and accused terroristFaisal Shahzad, Iqbal said. (It isn’t about being traumaatized, it’s about the money, you Muslim POS)
The Long Island man said the FBI kept his house under surveillance for the last week, and he found five agents going through his trash last weekend. “It’s harassment,” Iqbal said. “It’s not right. I’m an American. What must my neighbors think of me now?” (Now they think for sure you are a terrorist collaborator)
At least one believes Iqbal was up to no good. “Maybe he’s not a terrorist,” Bill Sacco, 58, said. “But he must have something to do with that stuff, or else the FBI wouldn’t be searching his house and sitting on our street day and night.” NY DAILY NEWS H/T TROP
Gee, I wonder what all these terrorists have in common?
Why is the Fort Hood ISLAMIC JIHADIST who massacred 13 and wounded 21 still receiving Army paychecks?
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: Military stories Leave a comment »
Even the bank won’t cash them.
Bank of America has given Maj. Nidal Malk Hasan 30 days to find another bank to cash his checks. Hasan’s attorney, John Galligan, told KVTX.com that the bank didn’t give for terminating his account, but instead said it was doing so “at their own discretion.”
Bank of America declined to comment for this story, citing its client privacy policies. Hasan is currently being held Bell County, accused of killing 13 in the Nov. 5 shooting spree.
Hasan’s legal team is on the hunt for a bank that will accept the deposits. But already a half-dozen local banks, including Chase Bank, Compass Bank, Fort Hood National Bank and the Pentagon Federal Credit Union, have refused him as client.
The Army requires direct deposit, so without a bank, Hasan would be without a paycheck.
But Fort Hood officials told FoxNew.com that military financial advisers will assist in resolving the problem, and Hasan will be paid eventually, even though banks are making it difficult. (Why is he getting paid at all?)
“It’s a testament to the discriminatory and toxic environment that exists toward my client in the Fort Hood and Bell County communities,” Galligan told KVTX.com. “He’s presumed to be innocent, he hasn’t been found guilty to any offense. He’s never, to the best of my knowledge, violated any requirements established by any bank,” he said.
Last year’s shooting rampage left Hasan paralyzed when he was shot by two civilian police officers. FOX NEWS
SOA on his Army business card stands for SOLDIER OF ALLAH
Too bad they didn't kill her
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: Islam and the Jews Leave a comment »Israel refuses to pay for treatment of an American self-hating Jewish leftie pro-Palestinian activist who lost an eye when IDF border police officers fired a tear gas canister at her during a protest demonstration.
Emily Henochowicz, who also holds Israeli citizenship, took part in a protest on May 31, shortly after Israel killed nine pro-Palestinian activists in a raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
The Henochowicz family said that a policeman shot a canister directly at her face, shattering her jaw and causing her to lose her left eye.
Following her treatment at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, Henochowicz’s father, who had traveled from the U.S., was handed a bill for almost 3,500 dollars. Under advice from his lawyer, he asked the ministry to cover the expense, but officials refused. In justifying the refusal, the ministry claimed the tear gas was not fired directly at Henochowicz.
“The canister ricocheted at her after it rebound off a concrete barrier and changed direction – it was not shot directly at her,” the ministry said in a statement, which was contested by Haaretz as one of its reporters was a witness to the incident. IKHWANWEB
Wacko Emily’s stupid video:
Bloggers like this one have been covering the plight of Afghan women for years. TIME Magazine finally noticed.
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: Women Leave a comment »
Now that the Obama Regime has not so secretly been trying to negotiate deals with Taliban terrorists, Afghan women’s lives are in greater jeopardy than ever before.
ORIGINAL POST HERE: shaming-her-in-laws-cost-this-afghan-woman-her-nose-and-ears
The Taliban pounded on the door just before midnight, demanding that Aisha, 18, be punished for running away from her husband’s house. Her in-laws treated her like a slave, Aisha pleaded. They beat her. If she hadn’t run away, she would have died. Her judge, a local Taliban commander, was unmoved. Aisha’s brother-in-law held her down while her husband pulled out a knife. First he sliced off her ears. Then he started on her nose.
This didn’t happen 10 years ago, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. It happened last year. Now hidden in a secret women’s shelter in Kabul, Aisha listens obsessively to the news. Talk that the Afghan government (backed by the Obama Regime) is considering some kind of political accommodation with the Taliban frightens her. “They are the people that did this to me,” she says, touching her damaged face. “How can we reconcile with them?”
In June, Afghan President Hamid Karzai established a peace council tasked with exploring negotiations with the Taliban. A month later, Tom Malinowski from Human Rights Watch met Karzai. During their conversation, Karzai mused on the cost of the conflict in human lives and wondered aloud if he had any right to talk about human rights when so many were dying. “He essentially asked me,” says Malinowski, “What is more important, protecting the right of a girl to go to school or saving her life?” How Karzai and his international allies answer that question will have far-reaching consequences, not only for Afghanistan’s women, but the country as a whole.
As the war in Afghanistan enters its ninth year, the need for an exit strategy weighs on the minds of U.S. policymakers. Such an outcome, it is assumed, would involve reconciliation with the Taliban. But Afghan women fear that in the quest for a quick peace, their progress may be sidelined. “Women’s rights must not be the sacrifice by which peace is achieved,” says parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi.
Yet that may be where negotiations are heading. The Taliban will be advocating a version of an Afghan state in line with their own conservative views, particularly on the issue of women’s rights. Already there is a growing acceptance that some concessions to the Taliban are inevitable if there is to be genuine reconciliation. “You have to be realistic,” says a diplomat in Kabul. “We are not going to be sending troops and spending money forever. There will have to be a compromise, and sacrifices will have to be made.”
For Afghanistan’s women, an early withdrawal of international forces could bedisastrous. An Afghan refugee who grew up in Canada, Mozhdah Jamalzadah recently returned home to launch an Oprah-style talk show in which she has been able to subtly 
introduce questions of women’s rights without provoking the ire of religious conservatives. On a recent episode, a male guest told a joke about a foreign human-rights team in Afghanistan. In the cities, the team noticed that women walked six paces behind their husbands. But in rural Helmand, where the Taliban is strongest, they saw a woman six steps ahead.
The foreigners rushed to congratulate the husband on his enlightenment — only to be told that he stuck his wife in front because they were walking through a minefield. As the audience roared with laughter, Jamalzadah reflected that it may take about 10 to 15 years before Afghan women can truly walk alongside men. But once they do, she believes, all Afghans will benefit.
“When we talk about women’s rights,” Jamalzadah says, “we are talking about things that are important to men as well — men who want to see Afghanistan move forward. If you sacrifice women to make peace, you are also sacrificing the men who support them and abandoning the country to the fundamentalists that caused all the problems in the first place.” TIME
VIDEO OF AISHA
STATEN ISLAND IslamoFascist sympathizing lefties protest defeat of proposed mosque
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: Islam in America Leave a comment »Although the deal has been taken off the table, non-Muslim community members rallied in front of a former Midland Beach convent today to support those who had hoped to build a mosque at the site.
Holding signs that read “Shame on the Archdiocese,” “Bigots, Racists and Haters… Go Home” and “Islamophobia? No!!,” some 30 protesters outside the building owned by St. 
Margaret Mary’s R.C. Church said the day was about freedom of religion.
The rally was organized by Elaine Brower of Great Kills and Devra Morice of New Springville. They explained that the rally was scheduled before the July 21 decision by the church’s board to cancel the sale of the convent to the terror-linked (MAS) Muslim American Society.
“We’re Staten Islanders and we care that other Staten Islanders can not worship freely,” Ms. Brower said, adding, “I was raised Catholic and I’m disappointed by my faith. I can’t believe there’s so much religious intolerance.” (Idiots. How about protesting all the persecution and killings of Christians by Muslims around the world?) SI LIVE
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Move over Al-Jazeera, the Somali Jihadis have a new Terrorist News Network
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: Jihad this! Leave a comment »
Somalia’s Al Qaeda-backed militant group Al-Shabab has launched an on-line “news” channel called Al Kataib, and its first propaganda newscast, in English, uses graphic footage to warn African countries to stop sending troops to Somalia.
(I wonder if CNN is a consultant?) The launch comes as U.S. and Somali officis warn of Al Shabab’s increased sophistication, and strengthening ties to Al Qaeda, ABC News reports.
The 21-minute videotape, called “Mogadishu: The Crusaders Graveyard” shows Al Shabab fighters taking on Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers.
It is narrated in English and formatted like a Western news program, complete with sophisticated graphics, an on-screen Al Kataib logo, and even a traditional stand-up with a jihadist fighter standing in front of a destroyed tank.
Face covered, the jihadi signs off “Al Kataib News Channel, live from the frontlines of Mogadishu.”
While most of the ire in the Al Shabab broadcast is reserved for Uganda and the African Union Mission in Somalia, also known as AMISOM, there are several references directly to the United States and its support of African Union troops.
The video specifically refers to the 1993 Black Hawk Down incident where Somali warlords killed 18 U.S. soldiers and dragged their dead bodies through the streets of Mogadishu.
In this video a burnt AMISOM soldier is shown and the mission is given a warning. LINK
RELATED STORIES: Jihad this!
PAYBACK for rocket attack on Israeli city, IDF airstrike kills Hamas commander
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: Islam and the Jews Leave a comment »Hamas vows revenge. Israel yawns. (Bring a knife to the fight and we will bring a gun)
AFP GAZA CITY– Hamas vowed revenge on Saturday after Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed a senior militant and wounded eight other people. The overnight Israeli raids came after a rocket fired from the strip hit a southern Israeli city and prompting sharp criticism from the United Nations.
One Hamas militant was killed in an airstrike on a caravan near the Magazhi refugee camp in the centre of the Palestinian enclave, a Hamas official said. The Israeli military said the site was “a weapons-manufacturing warehouse.”
In a statement on Saturday, the military wing of Hamas identified the man as Issa al-Batran, 40, and said he was a senior field commander. ”These new Zionist crimes will not pass without answer,” the statement said.
OMG! Are the jihadists really planning to put up a wall at the Ground Zero Mosque to memorialize the 19 Muslim 9/11 hijackers?
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: Islam in America Leave a comment »According to Carl Paladino, candidate for NY State Governor, yes, indeed they are.
Carl Paladino, the Buffalo developer hoping to win a Republican gubernatorial primary, is doubling down his opposition to a mosque in Lower Manhattan, saying it’s an “affront to the American people” and “it’s about the Islamists wanting to illustrate that they have conquered America by taking down the World Trade Center.”
In an interview last night with NY1, Paladino equated those building or using the proposed Cordoba Mosque with Muslim terrorists who attacked the United States on September 11 and are waging war on American troops abroad.
“The governor doesn’t really have a clue what this issue is about,” Paladino told Arbetter. “It’s not about religion, it’s not about the First Amendment. It’s about ideology. It’s about the Islamists wanting to illustrate that they have conquered America by taking down the World Trade Center. It’s a claim of triumph.”
“As Governor of New York, I’ll stop the Ground Zero Mosque with eminent domain.”
PALADINO RADIO: listen to the radio ad here
Paladino belittled his critics.
Paladino at proposed mosque site
“These guys have a focus on totally different things. Andrew Cuomo figured it was a political issue and he made it a point to point out, oh, this is freedom of religion. Oh, I’m going to appeal to the religious. Well, he’s trying to point out that he’s a supporter of the Constitution. Well, this is not a constitutional issue,” Paladino told Arbetter. “It’s not a freedom of religion issue. It’s an affront to the American people, and the American people expect their elected representatives to go out and protect them from these things. And Mr. Bloomberg, I don’t know what planet he’s from, okay? But he has no business taking a position on behalf of the people of New York City and especially the families of those that died in that building. He has no business taking a position like he’s taken, and they’re going to have to suffer the consequences of it, because I’m telling you, the American people will not accept this.”
According to a transcript, on NY1, Paladino was asked by Elizabeth Kaledin about his opposition to the mosque.
Q: You’re saying the siting of the mosque is being evidence of plans of conquest.
A: Not plans of conquest, the acts of those Jihadists.
Q: These people are unrelated to the terrorists?
A: How are they unrelated? They telling us they’re related.
Q: There are millions of Muslims in the world.
A: There are millions of them, but these people who are advocating this mosque, we don’t know who they are, do we.
Q: Should we not find out? Calmer minds have prevailed and said let’s find out the trail of the money.
A: Calmer minds would say build your mosque anywhere else, don’t build it in the footprint of the dust storm following 9/11. That dust contains the remains of many, many people. It’s not 600 feet away. It is part of the area that the dust covered. OK? That’s a very solemn place for the American people. I met this afternoon with a mother of a fireman who died there. It’s a terrible feeling she has. Did you know they’re going to put on a wall in this whatever they’re building, they’re going to put on the wall the faces of the men who flew those aircraft into that building. They’re going to put their faces on the wall. Why are we memorializing those men?
Q: We’re off the topic, here, of the mosque. I want to be clear — your opposition to the mosque is bigger than an issue of sensitivity.
A: It absolutely is.
Q: You sound like you’re opposed to, you know, sort of the growth of an Islamic or Muslim practice of religion in Lower Manhattan.
A: Not the practice of religion. The growth of a Muslim, Islamic idea of conquering the world. Okay. They have said it. They have said the world will eventually come under their rule rule. And this was a part of it. The attack on the World Trade Center was a part of it. This is no different than putting up a symbol to Hirohito next to Hickam Field in Pearl Harbor.
Q: Do you think that is a positive message to express to young New Yorkers, especially young New Yorkers?
A: Absolutely.
Q: That we should be looking over our shoulders thinking that Muslims are trying to take over.
A: We better start.
Q: You want to teach that to our children?
A: Yes, because that’s the real world out there, and that’s what our troops are fighting for and dying for in those two wars. Times Union
IT FIGURES! Apparently, the 3 American hikers imprisoned in Iran for a year are said to be like 3 Rachel 'pancake' Corries
Posted: July 31, 2010 Filed under: EnemyWithin-American Leave a comment »
BNI suspected as much. (See links under story) Serves them right for hiking on the border of Iran. I wonder if they’ve been subjected to the usual Iranian prison guard treatment?*
* take-him-and-get-him-pregnant-said-iranian-prison-guards-to-jailed-student-dissident
* iranians-wed-then-rape-virgin-girls-before-executing-them
* and-obama-thinks-he-can-negotiate-with-these-savages
If Sarah Shourd, 31, could have, she would have set sail on the recent flotilla to Gaza. Same for her boyfriend Shane Bauer, 28 and their friend Josh Fattal, 28.
The 3 Rachel Corries pre-Iran
And they would probably be out there right now, demonstrating against Israel’s reaction, the blockade in general, and well, Israel in general.
That’s the kind of thing they believe in. Those are the sorts of activities they do. “These are like three Rachel Corries,” says their friend Shon Meckfessel, comparing them to the activist killed in Gaza who has become something of a symbol of the pro-Palestinian movement, “…we have spent out whole adult lives contesting injustices in the Middle East.”
Except for now, none of those three young Americans is doing much of anything. On Saturday, it will be a year since they were taken into captivity in Iran, where they remain, in Evin prison, with almost no contact with the outside world.
The 3 Rachel Corries now
Meckfessel, who was traveling with them when they were taken captive, is frustrated that so little is being done to get them released. “It just does not feel like a priority for the U.S. administration,” he complains. Is it because they are Americans who were critical of U.S. and Israeli actions? “I definitely wonder about that,” he says.(If Obama knew, that you’d have been out a year ago)
Swiss diplomats, who represent the U.S. in Tehran have managed only three visits with the captives. An Iranian lawyer has had no access. And Shourd, in solitary confinement, is said to be increasingly depressed.
The three are accused of being spies who entered the country to gather information and incite resistance to the regime – but no official charges have been made, and there is no trial date scheduled. All of which leaves the “American hikers” as they are called, in total limbo.
Mothers wearing hijabs did not impress the Iranians
A year ago, the four friends had set out from Syria, where they were living and teaching in a Palestinian refugee camp, on a hiking trip to Kurdistan, in Northern Iraq, recounts Meckfessel. Staying in picturesque Suleymania, the plan was to go hiking and camping in the Zagros Mountains. Read more:HAARETZ H/T ZIP
VIDEO about the supporters of the leftie scumbags. Shame on FOX NEWS for giving them a platform.
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"We must get our children accustomed to hating the Jews"
Posted: July 30, 2010 Filed under: Islam and the Jews Leave a comment »Egyptian cleric tells parents that they must use the Qur’an to teach their children why they must hate the Jews.
Religion of peace indeed. 
Are Muslims desecrating their own mosque AGAIN to gain public sympathy?
Posted: July 30, 2010 Filed under: CAIR Nazis, Islam in America Leave a comment »
They blame everything on ‘Islamophobia” (not that the fear of Islam is irrational) even if it means doing something criminal themselves and accusing some fictitious Muslim-haters.
This happened in Texas yet they are blaming it on opposition to the Ground Zero mosque in New York.
For example:
Terrorist Front Group CAIR tries to call the arson on a Georgia mosque a ‘hate crime’ until they found out it was a Muslim member of the congregation who set the fire: updated-terrorist-front-group-cair-asks-fbi-to-investigate-suspected-arson-at-georgia-mosque
Muslim imam caught on video of vandalizing his own mosque, then blaming it on Islamophobia: australian-imam-caught-in-the-act
.
MORE MUSLIM LIARS: Two women students falsely accuse London bus driver of racism
Posted: July 30, 2010 Filed under: Islamic Britain Leave a comment »
UK bus driver accused by two students of banning them because of their Islamic dress has been cleared after CCTV showed he had actually barred them for their abusive behavior.
One of the women, who wasn’t named in the BBC report, said the bus driver told her: “I am not going to take you on the bus because you two are a threat.” She added, “I realised it wasn’t due to me getting on the bus, this may be a racist attack.” The Muslim Council of Britain said it was “deeply concerned”. A spokesman said: “Such incidents are sadly becoming more common.”
(Of course they were not referring to the fact that Muslims often lie to get pity or financial reward)
An investigation by Metroline – which operates the No7 bus – found the driver, who could have faced the sack over the allegation, was justified in not allowing the women on his vehicle.
The 22-year-olds, Yasmin and Atoofa, from Slough, told the BBC that they had been refused access to the bus at Russell Square because of their dress. Yasmin was wearing a hijab and her face was uncovered while Atoofa was wearing a niqab, which covers the face.
But the Standard has learned that the students, who asked for their full names not to be revealed, were denied entry “due to abusive behaviour towards bus driver and other passengers”.
On-board CCTV of the incident, on Monday last week, showed the women banging on the front doors and attempting to board the bus when it had come to the end of its run. They then get on through the rear doors and begin arguing with the driver. They get off and wait for the bus to start its journey back to Paddington – but another exchange follows, and the driver refuses to set off unless they disembark.
Metroline said: “We have now reviewed the CCTV and interviewed the bus driver. The circumstances of this incident are not as represented by the bus passengers.” (So are they going to throw them in jail for false accusations? Not likely) London Evening Standard
UK Muslim women regain lost virginity at taxpayer expense
Posted: July 29, 2010 Filed under: Women Leave a comment »
I suppose a case could be made that it is a lifesaving procedure considering if a Muslim bride is found not to be a virgin on her wedding night, she could be honor-killed by her own family.
Still, should British taxpayers have to foot the bill for some cultural/religious fanaticism?
Increasing numbers of Muslim brides are having taxpayer-funded ‘virginity repair’ operations before marriage. The health service figures echo a trend reported by private clinics, which are seeing a huge surge in demand for the procedure from Muslim women paying up to £4,000.One Harley Street clinic said that demand for its half-hour procedure had tripled in recent months.
Doctors say patients are under pressure from future husbands or relatives who insist that they should be virgins on their wedding night. Critics have condemned the trend as a sign of the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the West.
During the hymenoplasty procedure – viewed by some as invasive and degrading – the hymen is stitched or reconstructed so that it will tear again and bleed on the woman’s wedding night. In some cases, the vaginal lining can be used to create a false hymen. A blood capsule can then be inserted into the lining to ensure realistic blood flow when the membrane is broken.
Consultant gynaecologist Dr Magdy Hend performs hymenoplasty under local anaesthetic at his Regency Clinic on Harley Street. He charges £1,850 for the half-hour procedure and says that most of his clients are Muslim women.
He said: ‘In the past, we would do one or two hymen reconstruction operations a week. Sometimes now, we get two or three women a day. Demand has tripled. UK DAILY MAIL
"When we get assaulted, the police don't want to do anything," whines Code Pinko leader
Posted: July 29, 2010 Filed under: EnemyWithin-American Leave a comment »
Self-hating Jew bitch and Code Pinko leader, Medea Benjamin, protesting at the Christians United for Israel conference complains about getting assaulted and wondering why nobody cares?
I wonder how many Muslims she has to sleep with to get them to they keep paying for her to go to Gaza and spread lies about how bad things are there to the American public?
Someody needs to send her the videos of the thriving and prosperous Gaza from this website. The “poor, starving Palestinian story is getting old and there’s too much visual evidence that this is just a big lie being perpetrated by the Jew-haters of the world. I wish she’d stand in front of a bulldozer like her pal Rachel ‘Pancake’ Corrie did.
This is the best sign I’ve seen:
If you’ve finished eating dinner, look at these saggy old Code Pinko’s naked protest of BP
Egyptian Journalist is SHOCKED by what he found in Gaza
Posted: July 29, 2010 Filed under: Islam and the Jews Leave a comment »Contrary to what Paliwood Propaganda and the Western liberal media would like you to believe, stores in Gaza are overflowing with goods.
Journalist Ashraf Abu Al-Houl wrote in Al-Ahram: “I was last in Gaza in mid-February. Returning three weeks ago, I found it almost unrecognizable… and the greatest surprise was the nature of that change. I would have expected a change for the worse, considering the blockade – but the opposite was the case; it seemed as if it had emerged from the blockade.
“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.
” I toured the new resorts, most of which are quite grand, as well as the commercial markets, to verify my hypothesis. The resorts and markets have come to symbolize prosperity, and prove that the siege is formal or political, not economic. The reality [in Gaza] proves that 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.”
“I began my search for the truth regarding the siege in Rafah, at the Saturday market, which was loaded with large quantities of merchandise and products of various kinds – at prices mostly lower than in Egypt, particularly for food products.”
“Business owner Abu Yousuf stood at his shop surrounded by hundreds of cans of food. Their price had dropped significantly in the past two months; in some cases by as much as 50%. Clothing vendor Abu Muhammad Al-Masri noted that there was an unprecedented glut on the clothing market in the Gaza Strip. Clothing comes into Gaza from two sources: the tunnels, which provide large quantities, and the border crossings to Israel, via which even more goods arrive, most of which piled up at Ashdod port [and are now coming into the Strip]. He clarified that 
the merchants wanted to sell [lots of] goods to get back some of their money… and so had increased the supply in the markets, leading to lower prices.
“Despite the drop in price due to the plethora of goods in the Gaza markets, the residents sense that even lower prices are on the way, due to the easing of the Israeli blockade. The consumers are carefully watching prices, [particularly for] smuggled electrical appliances and cars, and refrain from buying, expecting that merchandise will arrive via the border crossings [leading to a further drop in prices].
“A Gaza car showroom salesman said that he hoped to sell off his inventory and that he was not bringing in any new vehicles for fear of heavy losses. Anyone walking in the Gaza streets will see hundreds, if not thousands, of cars that entered Gaza from Egypt via the tunnels, and some of them are stolen. At the home and kitchen appliance dealers, there is a tempting array of all kinds of smuggled goods that sellers want to get rid of, due to the ongoing information about new products that Israel has decided to allow into to the city… “
“The Gaza resorts paint a picture of prosperity enjoyed by groups which have become rich from the blockade, because they either own tunnels or else work for the many international organizations in Gaza, headed by UNRWA.”
“The Gaza resorts are divided into several [categories], each of which has its own price range. This is not like it used to be, when all the tables on the beach were for the use of all the residents… I noticed that most of the resorts set a certain price for the tables near the sea, and a different price for tables farther away. This is in addition to high fees to enter the resort – no less than NIS 20 – and each activity within the [grounds] has its own fee. In short, a family visit, with a sandwich for each child, can cost up to NIS 500.
“Several months ago, Gaza had only one luxury resort, Zahrat Al-Madain. Today, another one opens up every day, such as Crazy Water, Aqua Park, and Al-Bustan. Most of them are owned by members, or associates, of Hamas. In addition, the Hamas municipalities [also] charge high fees, in Gaza terms, for the use of public beaches.”
“Walid Al-’Awwad, a member of the Palestinian People’s Party political bureau, said, ‘In the past two years, money-laundering has 
flourished in Gaza, as reflected by the construction of numerous resorts – all of which belong to influential individuals who participate in trafficking via the tunnels. The spread of the grand resorts reflects the emergence of a bourgeoisie. Some of the fluidity in the Gaza market stems from the activity of clandestine elements – distributors of drugs, arms, and tunnel merchandise.’
This huge investment in the leisure industry is taking place today in Gaza at a time when 80% of the residents depend on aid from UNRWA, (the U.S.) and other organizations, and unemployment is at 45%. This creates a distorted picture, particularly when merchandise is piling up in the shops in a way that does not reflect the economic situation. Perhaps the current government created this distorted situation in order to show that it had succeeded in breaking the siege…”
The PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida stated: “The Al-Bustan resort, on the coast, belongs to an Islamic association linked to Hamas. It offers a cafeteria, a restaurant, and fish ponds; it gets 1,000 visitors a day, and about 2,000 during the weekend.”
“In May, Bisan Tourism City was established in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. Previously a garbage dump, the 270-dunam [site], which belongs to the Hamas government, provides a leisure and vacation [destination] for Gaza residents… It cost $1.5 million, under the oversight of Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad. The city includes an 86-dunam park and a small zoo, and two Olympic-size swimming pools for children and adults. According to its administration, on weekends it hosts some 6,000 visitors... The administration bans hookah smoking and card games, and three religious conventions are held there every week.
Upscale mall opens in Gaza.
The Palestinian website Firas Press reported: “This week, Gaza’s first mall opened. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Hamas ministers and officials, along with merchants and investors. Hamas Welfare Minister Ahmad Al-Kurd said, “The mall will participate in meeting the basic needs of the population, against the backdrop of the siege, with merchants bringing in [goods] via the border crossings and the tunnels. MEMRI
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