Gaza's beaches unseasonably empty
The Gaza Municipality has increased rent for the land used to set up beach resorts every summer, forcing many lodge owners to condense their facilities or close altogether.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The owners of beach resorts on the coast of the Gaza Strip are complaining that the municipalities have increased the rental prices for land along the coast. Temporary vacation lodges are built there each summer, offering a rare escape for citizens from the summer heat and power outages that have reached 20 hours per day.
At the start of this summer season, the largest municipality in the Strip, the Municipality of Gaza, set rent for resort owners at $35,000 for the summer season, which starts in early May and ends at the end of October. The amount is very high compared to what the municipalities charged under the Palestinian Authority before 2007, according to Hatem al-Sheikh Khalil, the director of the Public Relations Department in the Municipality of Gaza. The fees at the time did not exceed $2,000 for the entire summer.
