So, Hamas Becomes No Mas!

By the time this story gets posted for public view, what I am planning to say may mean nothing at all. But we’ll see what we see, okay?

Back in 1988 or 1989 I spent two days in Gaza representing an investment group which was considering putting up a factory in the strip and wanted to know what they would be facing in terms of government permits, access to public facilities — all the usual stuff you need to know before plunking down a couple of million bucks to get things started.

Gaza had been the scene of some bloody confrontations between local Palestinian residents and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) over the previous couple of years, but by the time I arrived, things had quieted down, and the situation seemed to be under control, more or less.

The planned factory, which was going to produce synthetics, was going to employ several hundred local residents and pay them well above the minimum wage, so it was assumed that an employment opportunity in Gaza would keep things under control.

Except the only problem was that I couldn’t deliver any definitive judgement on what was involved in setting up this operation because nobody seemed to know who was really in control. I went to one location which was allegedly where the municipal authorities had offices which issued building permits and the offices were closed.