(MEMRI) "Returning [to Gaza] three weeks ago, I found it almost unrecognizable....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," journalist Ashraf Abu Al-Houl wrote in the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram on July 18. "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." "The reality proves that the siege was broken even before...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."
2010-07-29 09:30:29Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive