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At Gaza's Only Spa, the Well-Heeled Find Relief

[AFP] Joseph Krauss and Mai Yaghi - High above the pot-holed streets of Gaza City sits Rosy, Gaza's only spa and a refuge for its upper crust. The spa is a sign of how a reasonably well-off minority has found a way to endure amid Gaza's bleak landscape of toxic politics and economic paralysis. A handful of upscale restaurants and hotels still serve lavish meals and fragrant waterpipes to businessmen, landowners, aid workers, journalists, and even the occasional senior Hamas official. At the top of the pyramid of Rosy's client base are the international and local staff of UN agencies, aid organizations, human rights groups, and journalists. Then there are the civil servants who work for the Hamas-run government - around 20,000 doctors, teachers and other government workers who get regular monthly wages. And there are the 70,000 employees of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank who - because of the internal political rivalry - are paid to stay home and boycott Hamas. "When they told us to stop going to work, I had a lot more free time," says Dana Khaled, 26, who is employed by the Finance Ministry, during a recent workout.
2009-09-18 08:00:00
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