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GAZA’S tourist spots have vowed to rebuild their own seafront holiday hotels and restaurants without Donald Trump’s shock takeover plan.
The President surprised the world when he said the US should take over the war-torn state and create his vision of a “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Khalil Hamra / AP Images for NPR
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The Al Qalaa restaurant in Gaza before the warAl Qalaa
Reuters
Trump’s idea included relocating two million Palestinians to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Egypt while the US reconstructs the area he called a “demolition site”.
The US President said he would turn Gaza into the “most spectacular development on Earth” but Palestinians have argued they will reconstruct the area themselves.
Before the Israel-Hamas war broke out with the October 7 attacks, the densely populated land had developed a tourism scene that was also popular with Israeli tourists.
Its Mediterranean shores were made the most of with some iconic hotels and sites.
Netanyahu’s bombs have turned much of this former holiday hotspot into rubble but some Gazans have still defied Trump’s big money takeover.
One restaurant owner, Assad Abu Haseira, promised to start serving dishes at his spot before it is even fully rebuilt, per Reuters.
He said: “There is nothing that cannot be repaired.
“Trump says he wants to change the restaurants, and he wants to change Gaza and wants to create a new history for Gaza.
“We remain Arab and the history of Arabs will not be replaced with the history of foreigners.”
This Gazan has not been the only person to show defiance to Trump’s “Riviera of the Middle East” plan.
Mohammed Abu Haseira vowed to reopen his restaurant and make it “much better than before” while questioning Trump’s narrative that Gaza was a “demolition site”.
He said: “Trump has come up with a decision that he wants to establish restaurants, but the restaurants are here and the hotels are here.
“Why did you destroy them to establish other ones?”
Shocking before and after images have shown the extent of the coastline’s destruction.
Khalil Hamra / AP Images for NPR
Omar El Qattaa for NPR
ReutersThe Israeli Defence Forces have claimed that some of these tourist and cultural sites were bombed because they contained terrorist tunnels.
It said: “In response to Hamas’ barbaric attacks, the IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities.”
One of these blitzed tourist sites was Pasha’s Palace, where historians claim Napoleon stayed for three nights in 1799 during his military campaign in the area.
The site’s beautiful stone walls and the relics that sat inside have been turned to rubble.
Images also showed how the Aldeira hotel, which had been popular among journalists staying reporting in the region, had its doors, windows, and roof blown off.
Other beachfront tourist spots are now a shadow of their past.
The Al Qalaa restaurant, which was back-dropped by the waves of the Mediterranean Sea, has been now been pictured as a skeleton among piles of war rubble and destruction.
Reuters
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