Ruined Gaza fun park now waits for aid
Reuters
Date: 09-15-05
By Cynthia Johnston
SHEIKH IJLEEN, Gaza Strip, Sept 15 (Reuters) - A mangled bumper car is all that remains of Ibrahim al-Nouri's amusement park on the Gaza beachfront.
Near the former Jewish settlement of Netzarim, the park lay next to a frequent battleground between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in the uprising that erupted five years ago. Nouri closed it in 2001. Later the army bulldozed it.
While Nouri was happy to see the last Israeli soldier leave on Monday, he has no idea if he will ever have the money to rebuild his park.
"My dream is the amusement park will return and children can play here. I want to put back all the rides that used to be here. My only ambition is it will be as it was," he said.
"Every time I come, it brings back painful memories. The place reminds me of all the money I lost," said Nouri, smoking a cigarette in a plastic chair next to the empty lot that was once filled with laughter.
Across the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are returning to properties near settlements that became perilous to reach during the uprising, when the enclaves became regular flashpoints and anyone in the zones around them risked being shot.
Many of the properties were damaged or destroyed by the army, which said it was removing positions used by the militants who launched frequent attacks on the settlements.
The question for those like Nouri is where they will get the money to rebuild. He estimates he lost $1.5 million on the amusement park. His debts would not help when it comes to getting a bank loan.
BILLIONS EXPECTED
Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khatib said home and business owners whose property was damaged by Israel may be eligible for help rebuilding. The funds would likely come from a $50 million payment from the United States.
Billions of dollars in Western and Arab aid and investment are also expected to flow into Gaza for projects including a seaport and other infrastructure to help revive the economy of the impoverished strip, home to 1.4 million people.
Palestinians remain sceptical the pullout will end conflict because they also seek a state in all of the occupied West Bank, where Israel is enlarging its settlements. They also fear possible factional violence in Gaza.
But optimism is at its highest level since the construction boom following 1990s interim peace accords, when much of the Gaza Strip first came under Palestinian rule and Nouri began to build his park.
"The first year the Palestinian Authority came, we met with President (Yasser) Arafat and he said that we need investment in order to make this country a new Singapore," he said.
"So I thought to make an amusement park for all Gazans. It was good for Gaza's children. There were always school outings here, and people came on holidays and in the summer."
Bit by bit, he invested money in more rides -- building it into the territory's biggest amusement park.
But peacemaking ultimately ground to a halt and the uprising began. In January of 2001, several Palestinian youths headed to the amusement park were wounded when soldiers opened fire from a nearby army post, Nouri said.
He shut down the park, worried for the safety of his patrons. In 2004, Israeli troops bulldozed the site, saying they were clearing an area used by militants attacking Netzarim.
Scavengers picked off metal from the broken rides for scrap, leaving a vacant sand lot save mesh netting installed by neighbours to trap birds who fly in low from the sea.
"My message to the Palestinian Authority and to the world is to help us to make a new amusement park," said Nouri, a 45-year-old father of eight. "We want to build Gaza. A lot of money is coming to Gaza. Where is that money?"
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