PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Press Release
Ref: 85/2010
Date: 19 September 2010
Time: 13:30 GMT
Crazy Water Park Set Subjected to Arson Attackby Unknown Gunmen
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns storming
Crazy Water Park by unknown gunmen and setting fire to it in the early
morning. PCHR calls upon the Attorney General office to seriously
investigate this attack, which is part of the state of security chaos and
misuse of weapons prevailing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
According to investigations conducted by PCHR and the testimony of one of
the Park's guards, at approximately 03:00 on Sunday, 19 September 2010, more
than 20 masked gunmen broke into Crazy Water Park, which belongs to the
Panda Tourist Company and is located in Sheikh 'Ejleen area in the southwest
of Gaza City, near the beach. The gunmen handcuffed and blindfolded the two
guards, who were inside the Park, and took them to the guards' room after
confiscating the keys of the Park's buildings. A number of gunmen attacked
the security guard by beating him, set fire to the Park's buildings and
restaurants, including al-Badiya section, and then left. The two guards
hurried up to one of the neighboring houses to break their handcuffs, when a
force of civil defense arrived and extinguish fire. In addition, the
Palestinian police arrived and opened an investigation in the attack.
Damages were caused to large parts of the buildings and restaurants of the
10-dunum Park. They are:
1) (Al-Safeena) building, consisting of 3 floors on an area of 250 m².
It includes the administration and the restaurant;
2) Accounting and warehouses building, on an area of 140 m²;
3) Al-Badiya section, which includes works of the Palestinian
heritage, in addition to two mosques for men and women on an area of 300 m²;
and
4) Narjila (Hubly bubbly) room.
It should be noted that Crazy Water Park has been closed since 5 September
2010 under a decision issued by the Attorney General, for 21 days. When the
Park's director contacted governmental bodies, he was informed that the
reason of closure was for digging an artesian water well in the Park without
obtaining an official license in advance. The Palestinian police and
General Investigation Bureau (GIB) went to the Crazy Water Park on 19 August
2010 and informed them of the decision issued by the Minister of Interior to
close the Park for three days. The Park's director went to GIB office to
know the reason of closure, and then he was forced to sign an oath to abide
to (non-mixture, not to serve narjila to women and to pay 10,000 NIS in case
of breach).
In the same context, during the current month, GIB obliged owners of resorts
in the Gaza Strip to sign on a notice issued by the police command without
obtaining a copy of the notice. The notice includes conditions relevant to
gender mixture, non-serving narjila to women, to abide by the public order
and Islamic customs, to pay an amount of money in case of breach, and to
close the place. PCHR believes that such actions are illegal and they raise
concerns when the law enforcement bodies practice them or turn a blind eye
to them.
It is worth saying that two camps of the UNRWA summer games' camps, one of
them was held on the beach, in the west of al-Zawaida village, in the
central Gaza Strip, and the other one was held at the beach in the west of
Gaza City, were similarly attacked on 28 June 2010 and 23 May 2010.
In light of the above, PCHR:
1) Calls upon the Attorney General to seriously investigate the attack
on Crazy Water Park, which is part of the state of security chaos and misuse
of weapons prevailing in the OPT, and to bring the perpetrators to justice;
2) Calls for publishing the results of investigations into this attack
and other ones that were carried out against the UNRWA camps, especially,
the ongoing concealment of information regarding the perpetrators and
bringing them to trial raises doubts on the seriousness of these
investigations in Gaza and covering up the perpetrators; and
3) Believes that illegal measures taken by official bodies (GIB)
against resorts in Gaza, in addition to attacks relevant to the security
chaos and misuse of weapons threatening public tranquility and safety of the
society.
4) Calls upon the Minister of Justice and Minister of Interior to
ensure that law enforcement bodies work to enforce the law in order to
enhance the rule of law.
Public Document
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For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8
2824776 - 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip.
E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
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