The Gaza Strip's isolated and cash-strapped Hamas rulers are planning to build a multi-million pound media city and film production house. The £100 million centre will be part tourist attraction and part effort to cement control of the territory it seized by force in June. So far, however, the Islamic militants have raised only a tiny fraction of the money it needs for its own Hollywood.The idea comes at a time when the Gaza economy has ground to a standstill and its people are struggling to feed themselves because of Israeli and international sanctions against the Islamic group listed as a terror organisation.
Even so, Hamas envisions a glittering facility with production and graphics studios, satellite technology, gardens, water ponds, a children's entertainment area and an array of cafes and restaurants, said the Felasteen daily, a Hamas paper. It will even feature mock towns and villages similar to those that Palestinians fled or were forced out of after Israel's creation in 1948, the newspaper reported, quoting Fathi Hamad, a Hamas lawmaker and head of the project.
Hamad said the project's directors have raised £500,000, a small fraction of the price tag. He said he was confident the group could raise the rest from local donations and from Palestinians living abroad.