Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., April 03, 2008 Adar2 28, 5768 | | Israel Time: 10:27 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 13:17 07/11/2007
Hamas plans to build $200 million movie production house in Gaza
By The Associated Press
Tags: movies, Palestinians, Hamas 

GAZA CITY - It's a tale worthy of its own movie script: The Gaza Strip's isolated and cash-strapped Hamas rulers plan to build a $200 million media city and movie production house that will be part tourist attraction and part effort to cement control of the territory it seized by force in June.

So far, though, the Islamic militants have raised only a tiny fraction of the money it needs for its own Hollywood, 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 organization.

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.
Advertisement
It will even feature mock towns and villages similar to those that
Palestinians fled or were forced out 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 $1 million - a small fraction of the $200 million price tag. He said he was confident
the group could raise the rest from local donations and from Palestinians
living abroad.

Hamas launched a satellite channel last year, offering bearded young men
reading the news, and Islamic music layered over footage of masked militants firing rockets into Israel. Hamas loyalists also run at least five news Web sites, two newspapers and a radio station.

Some previous Hamas productions have generated unflattering headlines. In one show last year, a high-pitched Mickey Mouse lookalike called Farfour preached Islamic domination to children. After an international outcry, Hamas had the character killed off - by an actor playing an Israel security officer.

The mouse's replacement, a bee called Nahoul, was condemned by animal rights activists after the character swung cats by their tails to demonstrate how not to treat animals.

Hamas officials did not return phone calls to shoot will be based on a novel by one of its hard-line leaders in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, the report said. Zahar has written seven novels, including a 1980 romance called Beautiful Woman.

A movie is also planned about Izzedine al-Qassam, an admired preacher who led a Palestinian revolt in the 1930s against the British and Jews in Palestine. Hamas' military wing is named for the charismatic leader
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Devil's weed
New campaign equates smoking pot with terrorism.
Bad company
A BBC poll says Israel world's most hated country after Iran.
  1.   oosh... u will see more of fat grandma crying over 03:53  |  mary for jews 07/11/07
  2.   oosh! u will see more of fat grandma crying over dead child movie 04:07  |  mary for jews 07/11/07
  3.   Gaza Humanitarian crisis 04:07  |  Philippe 07/11/07
  4.   How do you spell BOOOOOOOOOM? 04:10  |  IsraFan 07/11/07
  5.   do i speak for everyone when i say hahaha! 05:13  |  Gabriel 07/11/07
  6.   Lakshmi and Labrhas will love this 05:26  |  Lynn 07/11/07
  7.   HAMAS USING THE WW2 GEOBELS TECHNIQUE 05:41  |  S.Martbomb 07/11/07
  8.   Farfour and Nahoul is not Disney 05:46  |  Chick 07/11/07
  9.   Brilliant plan 06:06  |  Natallie Durson 07/11/07
  10.   Pallywood! 06:10  |  AJ 07/11/07
  11.   food 06:33  |  colin 07/11/07
  12.   They are stooopid 06:38  |  Adrian de Klerk 07/11/07
  13.   Unbelievably stupid 06:51  |  mea 07/11/07
  14.   WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO YOU TO BE DEATH 06:51  |  indrajaya 07/11/07
  15.   Ap= ZIONIST OUTLET 07:07  |  kms 07/11/07
  16.   Good for Palestinians 07:12  |  Ghostdog 07/11/07
  17.   How Are These For Titles? 07:22  |  Yosemite 07/11/07
  18.   Good for Palestinians 07:26  |  Ghostdog 07/11/07
  19.   Entrepreneurs... 07:51  |  Esther 07/11/07
  20.   Irresponsibility reigns in Gaza. Who thought otherwise? 08:07  |  Israeli 07/11/07
  21.   Correction they run THREE newspapers 08:11  |  Ari ben Yisrael 07/11/07
  22.   actually quite ridiculous... 08:31  |  ruth 07/11/07
  23.   Palestinians in their true (movie) light 08:35  |  Mike 07/11/07
  24.   #5durson and the brilliant plan to create fiction 09:06  |  victor hardman 07/11/07
  25.   Provide the basics for your hungry people first !!!! 09:08  |  Benjamina 07/11/07
  26.   Cant wait 09:52  |  Uzi 07/11/07
  27.   # 17 well then yosemite... 09:53  |  eric 07/11/07
  28.   Probably just a cover up 09:57  |  Nechama 07/11/07
  29.   Yosemite #17: Perfect! 09:59  |  Nechama 07/11/07
  30.   You are so gullible! 10:06  |  Reporter 07/11/07
  31.   Pallywood -the propaganda machine 10:26  |  don 07/11/07
  32.   #30 Very good perception! 10:27  |  focused 07/11/07
  33.   Hamas Movies to capitalise on ISRAELI TERROR 10:41  |  Dagma 07/11/07
  34.   For focused #34 10:57  |  Esther 07/11/07
  35.   Re ghostdog #18 11:06  |  Esther 07/11/07
  36.   I thought the Palestinians were in poverty!!!! 11:11  |  Ben Uziel 07/11/07
  37.   To focused # 32 - Shows nobody Starves in Gaza 11:28  |  Dolly 07/11/07
  38.   just had to laugh 11:48  |  aaron 07/11/07
  39.   haaretz misses one of its own articles 11:52  |  victor hardman 07/11/07
  40.   A "correct" romance "Explodin` Ahmed and the Jihadettes"? 12:13  |  PETER S.M. 07/11/07
  41.   a proposition for improving the plan 12:13  |  Leon Rosgarten 07/11/07
  42.   junkie logic 12:34  |  aaron 07/11/07
  43.   No starvation in Gaza 13:15  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 07/11/07
  44.   Mahmoud Gamal Maktum (M.G.M. Studios) 13:25  |  Stephen. 07/11/07
  45.   AS A TOURIST I WOULD VISIT GAZA ONLY IN MERKAVA 4 13:29  |  IL supporter 07/11/07
  46.   Debbie Does Gaza in a Burka 13:38  |  Jane 07/11/07
  47.   Whatta GREAT idea!!!! 13:43  |  potential tourist 07/11/07
  48.   Esther # 35 - Re Land Theft..... 13:45  |  Dagma 07/11/07
  49.   Hamas should fix the sewage and garbage first 14:25  |  El-Birawi 07/11/07
  50.   Pals reach the next level of propaganda films? 14:42  |  William 07/11/07
  51.   Indrayaja#14 - the truth is made 14:46  |  William 07/11/07
  52.   Hey Ghostdog#18 - I think they took your advice 14:51  |  William 07/11/07
  53.   Dagma#33 14:53  |  William 07/11/07
  54.   El-Birawi.. Hamas and continuing delusions 15:14  |  Lynn 07/11/07
  55.   Margie #43 15:35  |  Maze of PR 07/11/07
  56.   Durson # 9 - At Long Last You Will Have A Place And A 15:38  |  Eli 07/11/07
  57.   Amira Hass is going to play the Leading Lady of Hamas,a huriss 15:42  |  Absolute Sweden 07/11/07
  58.   # 42 aaron 15:42  |  Lynn 07/11/07
  59.   # 21 Ari 15:47  |  Lynn 07/11/07
  60.   Nattalie Dumson can now get a job at the studio 15:50  |  Richard S 07/11/07
  61.   AND pALESTINIANS WANT PEACE WITH ISRAEL??? 15:50  |  Dolly 07/11/07
  62.   I Wanna Be A Star 15:51  |  Gnatallie Durbin 07/11/07
  63.   Let`s hope this project uses more "humanitarian aid" 15:52  |  Richard S 07/11/07
  64.   Good - We need some targets to hit 15:59  |  Izzy 07/11/07
  65.   possible movie titles? 16:15  |  Richard S 07/11/07
  66.   THEY SAID THEY WERE STARVING 16:15  |  * BEN JABO 07/11/07
  67.   #55 Maze of PR 16:16  |  * BEN JABO 07/11/07
  68.   Are They Going To Use Only Male Stars? 16:17  |  Yosemite 07/11/07
  69.   Oh I Get It 16:25  |  Yosemite 07/11/07
  70.   To Lynn # 54 - Hamas is fighting for a Palestinian State 16:28  |  Dorothea 07/11/07
  71.   Typical radical islam, I`m sure project will include.. 16:28  |  Rami 07/11/07
  72.   Durson - I Take It You Have All The Attributes Of A Movie Star 16:33  |  Phinias Whoppy