Al Jazeera America's first foreign correspondent acts as a human shield for Hamas
By his own admission, Al Jazeera America's first foreign correspondent, Nick Schifrin, acted as a human shield for Hamas on Tuesday.
I know, I know, there was no place else to stay.
By the way, does Nick's hotel look familiar?
It's called the Grand Palace (also known as the
al-Deira). More pictures
here.
By the way Nick, did Hamas ask your permission before they used you as a human shield?
Labels: five-star hotel, Gaza, Hamas rockets, human shields
Video of Gaza's newest five-star luxury hotel
Last Wednesday, I told you all about Gaza's brand new five-star
al-Mashtal luxury hotel. Now, I have some video to show you far more of the place. I'll have more after the fold too (this came from an Italian newspaper article parts of which someone translated for me).
Let's go to the videotape.
ArcMed Hotel Almashtal Gaza***** from sandra gomez on Vimeo.
The swimming pools are men only, all day, every day... and girls under the age of 12 so that they can find the next Aisha. (In fact, from the video it appears that the entire hotel is men only, but the article didn't say that). Isn't it great to be Muslim? Heh.
Labels: five-star hotel, Gaza plenty
'Besieged' Gaza City gets another five-star hotel
Gaza City has another five-star hotel (the AP article below makes it sound like the only five-star hotel in Gaza, but we
know that's
not true). This hotel is called
Arcmed Al Mashtal.
Nearly all of the newly opened hotel's 222 rooms, decked out with ornate metal-worked lamps, flat screen televisions, oversized beds and sea views, sit empty. The tourists whom the developers expected to flood to Gaza when they launched the project 13 years ago are nowhere to be seen. Local residents, most of them living in poverty, can only dream of staying in the gleaming complex.
The eight-story structure is an anomaly in Gaza, yet it cannot escape its surroundings. Residents riding donkey-driven carts occasionally trot by. Women cannot swim in the pool, in a nod to conservative Gaza tradition. There is no alcohol — banned by Hamas in line with Islamic law. On a recent day, two women in conservative Islamic headscarves and loose gowns sipped drinks by the pool, as children splashed inside.
Earlier this month, the hotel's developer, Palestinian investment company Padico decided to finally open it. The company, controlled by politically independent billionaire Munib al-Masri, hopes to recover at least some of its costs and hopes that Gaza's knotty problems may finally be solved in the coming years.
"Its risky — but we need to have a change in Gaza," said public relations manager Shadi Agha.
For now, the risk is not paying off. There are no foreign tourists in Gaza, just a handful of Western aid officials who pass through.
Only 80 rooms are even available. Management doesn't want to spend on maintenance for the remaining rooms, Agha said. Early this month, there were just 10 guests in the entire hotel, though the royal suite, at $880 a night, was occupied.
The guests ranged from international aid officials to a honeymooning Gaza couple who wanted to go somewhere nice, Agha said. He wouldn't identify them further or say who was in the royal suite.
Maybe they should try marketing it to western aid officials. After all,
they have the money to spend.
Heh.
Labels: five-star hotel, Gaza City, Gaza plenty, Padico
First 'Palestinian' corporate bonds issued
PADICO - a private company that has investments that include ownership of the 'Palestinian Stock Exchange' and of the 'Palestinian' cellular telephone company PALTEL - has issued the first corporate bonds in 'Palestinian history.' The bond issue, which is denominated in $10,000 bonds, totals $70 million, with a $100,000 minimum purchase and a coupon of 5% for the first 30 months and then a floating rate of LIBOR + 2.5% for the remainder of their 5-year term. The bonds were privately placed and will not trade. The proceeds will be used for '
infrastructure projects.' It's only taken them 18 years to get to this point.
Masri told The Media Line that he expected most of the issue to be bought by Palestinian banks and other financial institutions, although some foreign investors were likely to subscribe as well to the issue. The bonds, which will not be listed nor traded on the Palestine exchange, will have a term of five year.
They will pay a fixed interest annual interest rate of 5% for the first 30 months and for the remainder of the term pay a variable rate of six-month of the U.S. London interbank offered rate (Libor) plus 2.5 percentage points. Investors will be required to buy a minimum of 10 of the bonds, which are priced at a par value of $10,000, Padico said.
Masri said he isn’t concerned that the PA will lose much of its international aid amid concerns by Israel and the US that money will go to Hamas, an Islamic movement designed a terrorist group by the US and European Union.
“National unity is a great step,” Masri said. “It will encourage investment. We are not worried about the cutting of aid because the [national unity] government will be a very friendly, good government that will [operate] in accordance with international law and United Nations resolutions.”
Padico, which was formed in 1993 shortly after Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo peace accords, said the bonds are the best financing option for the company’s medium- and long-term strategic projects. They will provide liquidity without the need to constantly recycle short- term bank loans while enabling it to pay consistent cash dividends.
To those of you not in the business world, this may sound impressive. It's not. It's a small issue and the interest rate is not that of a prime credit. It's a start. But somehow, I think they'd be better off not investing in projects like this one:
"We plan to open a big, five-star hotel in Gaza, a power plant and many other development projects in Gaza,” he said. “There is a lot to be done in Gaza, especially rebuilding what the Israeli army has destroyed.”
Just who do they think is going to stay in a five-star hotel in Gaza? The flotilla passengers? What is there to do in Gaza that is going to attract anyone? There's an Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem, where there are attractions, and I just went online and could have booked a room for tomorrow night for $140 - far less than a comparable hotel just a few minutes away in Jerusalem would have cost. How much do they think they can get for a night at a five-star hotel in Gaza? Better they should fix the lousy sewer system (which was not destroyed by the Israeli army) first:
Labels: Bethlehem, corporate bonds, five-star hotel, Gaza plenty, Padico
