We start showing British newspapers from the Financial Times, which published a report by Simeon Kerr on Dubai’s decision to suspend a tax on alcoholic beverages in order to boost tourism.
The writer says that Dubai began the new year by suspending a 30 percent tax on alcohol sales, as it seeks to consolidate its position as a magnet for tourism and the business sector in the Gulf.
The decision, which came into force on Sunday, is valid for a year as a trial period, according to the newspaper.
The Financial Times indicated that Dubai has sought to liberalize and amend regulations in recent years to make them more attractive to foreign workers.
The report believes that the emirate faces stiff competition from its richer neighbours. Saudi Arabia, which lures many expatriates with high salaries, is developing new industries and opening up the entertainment sector by promoting its historical sites and considering legalizing the sale of alcoholic beverages. Qatar, which showcased itself during the FIFA World Cup, is also developing its hospitality sector.
The writer quotes Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, as saying that Dubai’s decision is supposed to support “the tourism and hospitality sectors following the strong recovery from the” Corona epidemic. The move would also be welcomed by many of the majority of the population, who are expatriates, according to Malik.
The article shows that Dubai, for decades, has been able to attract more tourists and wealthy expatriate workers than its regional rivals thanks to the local Muslim population’s tolerance of the city’s more liberal lifestyle.
But tourists regularly complain regarding the exorbitant cost of licensed restaurants, which tend to drive up alcohol prices.
The city has managed to bounce back following the pandemic, according to the article, while attracting new residents by curbing the coronavirus while keeping the economy relatively open.
With the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Dubai emerged as a financial haven for the Russians, according to the report.
“another planet”
And we turn to the Guardian newspaper, which published an article written by Bethan McKiernan entitled: “Crossing the border from Gaza to work in Israel makes you feel like you are on another planet.”
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The author says that there is nothing like the Erez crossing, the only civilian route between Israel and the besieged Gaza Strip, anywhere else in the world. The Israeli side looks like an airport terminal, but is in fact a fortress: Monitors and motion sensors monitor everything above, below the sea and on the land that forms Gaza’s de facto border, while robots armed with machine guns patrol the buffer zone.
Inside, Israeli border and military personnel use offices connected by walkways high above the ground to reduce the risk of an attack, according to the article.
The Erez crossing was built in the first decade of the twenty-first century at a cost of $60 million, and was designed to facilitate the passage of regarding 45,000 Palestinians a day who travel to work in Israel, but Hamas took over the strip, which prompted the Israelis to close the border.
The article indicated that the crossing remained strangely empty over the past fifteen years. Therefore, an entire generation of Palestinians in Gaza has not left the Strip, and has never met a single Israeli.
This has changed somewhat, according to McKiernan, who noted that in 2021, Israeli authorities began re-issuing work permits as part of an effort to stabilize the Strip following an 11-day war with Hamas.
Research published in August by the Israel Institute for National Security Studies found that the average monthly wage of a Palestinian from Gaza working in Israel is six times higher than in the Strip.
About 17,000 permits were issued in 2022, although this is still a fraction of the 500,000 people who traveled for work each month before 2007. Most permits are granted to married men over the age of 25 to work in agriculture and construction.
The severe restrictions on the movement of people, goods and equipment and the waves of violence between Israel and the armed factions in Gaza have created difficult conditions for the Strip’s 2.2 million residents, according to the article. About 97 percent of the Strip’s water is undrinkable, homes and businesses suffer from constant power outages, and a lack of medical equipment means that patients must apply for permits to travel for treatment in Egypt or the West Bank.
The unemployment rate in the Strip is 44.1 percent, rising to 59.1 percent among youth. It is therefore not surprising that almost everyone seizes the opportunity to go out.
The newspaper was able to speak to “Nasser” (a pseudonym), a 35-year-old worker from Gaza who works in a factory in Israel, following months of attempts. Many fear their hard-won permits are at risk of being confiscated.
Nasser, who has a university degree and used to work as an accountant in Gaza, but like many people in Gaza he has debts from a business that failed because a supplier might not deliver goods to him on time due to the blockade. He works hard manual labor in Israel, but he is happy To do that.
“The money here is great,” says Nasser. “I hope to be out of debt in regarding a year. My permit may only be for six months, but it will make a huge difference to me and my family.”
“I didn’t leave Gaza before. The main thing I didn’t expect was how beautiful Israel is. It’s breathtaking.”
Nasser continues, “It is difficult to describe my experience in Israel to my family, as it is like another planet for them. I hope to bring my wife, children and mother to see the clean sea in Jaffa or the Old City in Jerusalem. Maybe one day.”
And Nasser returns to his home in Gaza for the weekend regarding once a month, which takes 11 hours and travels in five buses.
“We’re supposed to go back to Gaza every night, but the Israelis know we don’t – it’s basically impossible if you work anywhere further north of Tel Aviv, and it takes a lot of time to cross, which we might spend earning instead,” he says.
