Luxury resort opens in Gaza, which could be ‘uninhabitable’ within five years, says the UN

THIS is a strange place in which to open a luxury resort. It’s expected to be completely “uninhabitable” within five years.

Supplied Editorial

THE manicured lawns, sparkling pools and luxury suites are a striking contrast to its war-ravaged surroundings.

The picture-perfect Blue Beach Resort is now open for business in Gaza — a distraught region so struggling to recover from recent conflicts the United Nations this week warned it would become “uninhabitable” in just five years.

But this Gaza City resort has been barely affected by ongoing tensions between Palestine and Israel.

Built by the Palestine Real Estate Investment Company, it is “specifically designed to be the ideal escape for family vacations and for recreational and relaxation purposes, away from the daily life hustle and bustle”, according to the website.

It boasts 152 chalets overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, 600 sq meters of lush green areas, two swimming pools, a jacuzzi, top-class restaurants, a video and games room and access to a 750-metre private beach.

The luxurious Blue Beach Resort Hotel in Gaza. Picture: Blue Beach Resort

Inside a chalet at the Blue Beach Resort in Gaza. Picture: Blue Beach Resort

And it seems to be proving popular. Guests who fork out $AU141 to $AU226 a night to stay in one of its luxurious rooms are leaving mostly positive reviews about their experience on Trip Advisor, praising the resort’s “outstanding” service, cleanliness, seaside views and the high quality of its restaurants.

The resort was originally due to be completed last year but plans stalled with the outbreak of the 50-day war between Palestine and Israel, Reuters reported.

And it is among a few luxuries still heartily enjoyed by Gaza’s small but resilient middle class, along with exclusive gyms, expensive cars and fine dining establishments, a report last month by the Washington Post revealed.

A Palestinian man with his daughter at Blue Beach Resort. Picture: Mohammed Salem / Reuters

While Blue Beach Resort’s seaside paradise is thriving, the same can’t be said for the rest of the region.

Gaza is plagued by a crumbling economy, rampant unemployment, widespread food insecurity and the destruction of vital infrastructure, according to a damning report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development released this week.

It is also in a state of de-development — a process where development is not just hindered, but actually in reverse.

The report blamed Gaza’s grim future on Israel’s eight-year blockade and three Israeli-Palestinian wars in six years. It warned international aid could not sufficiently help the region recover, and if current trends continued, Gaza would be uninhabitable by 2020.

“The social, health and security-related ramifications of the high population density and overcrowding are among the factors that may render Gaza unlivable by 2020,” the report read.

Palestinian workers try to rebuild in the Gazan suburb of al-Shejaiya a year after the 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas militants. Picture: AFP / Mohammed Abed

It added: “Short of ending the blockade, donor aid ... will not reverse the ongoing de-development and impoverishment in Gaza.”

Gaza, squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the most overcrowded territories on earth, home to 1.8 million people.

It has been the centre of intense fighting for decades, including last year’s conflict which killed 2131 (mostly civilian) Palestinians, displaced half a million people and left Gaza in ruins. The conflict also killed 71 Israelis.

The UN report said more than 20,000 Palestinian homes had been destroyed in last year’s military action, along with 148 schools and 60 hospitals and healthcare centres. Almost 250 factories, 300 commercial centres and Gaza’s sole power plant had been left either destroyed or badly damaged, and the agriculture sector suffered $550 million in damages.

The war “has effectively eliminated what was left of the middle class, sending almost all of the population into destitution and dependence on international humanitarian aid,” the UN report says.

But it is the economic blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt, which started when Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007, that is further crippling the region, the report said.

Now, exports from Gaza have almost been completely stopped, imports and cash transfers have been limited and the flow of basic humanitarian goods suspended.

Palestinian children play next to the rubble of buildings that were destroyed during last year’s 50-day war. Picture: AFP / Mohammed Abed

About 72 per cent of Gaza households are affected by food insecurity and more than 850,000 Palestinian refugees — about half of Gaza’s population — are completely reliant on food from UN agencies.

A staggering 95 per cent of water in the region is not safe to drink and there is a “severe” electricity crisis.

The blockade is also preventing essential work on rebuilding the war-ravaged territory, with only 27 per cent of the $3.5 billion in aid pledged last year towards Gaza’s recovery materialising, according to an April report from Oxfam. As a result, none of Gaza’s destroyed homes have been rebuilt.

Last year unemployment in Gaza climbed to a record high of 44 per cent, with four in five women out of work. Its per capita gross domestic product has slumped to 30 per cent since 1994. And the region will be put under even more strain, with the UN predicting its population to climb to 2.1 million by 2020.

The report comes as Egyptian military bulldozers pressed ahead with a project that would effectively flood the last remaining cross-border underground smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, which had been bringing commercial items and weapons into the struggling region.