http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=ODk5ODY2MDM1
Gunmen torch Gaza beach club shuttered by Hamas Published Date: September 20, 2010 GAZA CITY: Masked gunmen yesterday set fire to a Gaza beach club that had earlier been ordered closed by the territory's Hamas rulers, an owner said. Alaa Al-Araj, one of the owners of the "Crazy Water" club and a former Hamas minister, said about 40 gunmen had tied up and blindfolded a night watchman before setting fire to an administrative building and restaurant overnight. The fire engulfed different parts of the club, including an administrative building, and then spread to the main restaurant and cafeteria, which is three storeys high," he said. He said the club had been ordered to close for three days last month by the Hamas-run government because it had hosted parties in which men and women mingled. Earlier this month, it was told to close for 21 days because of a dispute over the use of a local spring for its pools and water slides. The government in Gaza and the police are responsible for the protection of the club (they) closed," Araj said. "All tourism projects in Gaza are threatened by extremists who reject them." The Hamas interior ministry said it had opened an investigation into the incident and denied any link between the attack and the closure. Investigations are ongoing to uncover the perpetrators of this crime and to hold them accountable," spokesman Ihab Al-Ghussein said in a statement. "What happened was a criminal act and it is being investigated. The decision to close (the club) was because of violations of the law," the statement added, without providing further details. In recent weeks Hamas has stepped up enforcement of a two-month-old ban on women smoking water pipes in public, saying it is "against traditions and social mores" and has closed a number of hotels and restaurants. The Islamist movement has only taken limited steps to impose Islamic law in Gaza since it seized power in June 2007 but has sought to prevent the mixing of the sexes in the already conservative territory. Smaller and more extreme groups have in the same period stepped up attacks on establishments perceived as un-Islamic, including coffee shops, beauty salons and even UN-run summer camps, though they rarely wound anyone. Hamas regularly condemns such attacks, but yesterday two well-known human rights groups, Al-Mezan and Al-Haq, released a joint statement criticizing the government for failing to make arrests. "The continuing lack of any results casts doubt on the seriousness of the relevant bodies in investigation such incidents," they said.-AFP [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
