On one of the very first Gaza vlogs I shared, we saw two guys who went for a pizza in Gaza City after buying a new tripod for their cellphone camera...
The #Gaza you don't see on the news.
When I saw this, I was like, whoa they have pizzerias in Gaza. Who knew? I didn't know back then that Gaza is full of thriving restaurants. Turns out the pizzeria in question is a well-known Gaza establishment called Pizza a-Taboon بيتزا الطابون.
Pizza a-Taboon in Gaza City بيتزا الطابون serves pizza (duh) and other things.
More photos of Pizza a-Taboon بيتزا الطابون in Gaza City.
And here's a funny little anecdote. Pizza a-Taboon بيتزا الطابون in Gaza City entered its address as Unknown Soldier Road, "Al-Jundi Al-Majhool". But Google Maps couldn't this road name in Gaza City, so it suggested, as it tends to do, another Unknown Soldier Road, in the area...
Thinking I must have made a mistake, I virtually drove all up and down the smallish Rehov Hakhayal Ha'Almoni (The Unknown Soldier), in the southern Israeli city of Qiryat Gat, on Google Street View. No Pizzerias. It's a quiet residential street, with no stores or businesses.
And Pizza a-Taboon بيتزا الطابون is definitely in Gaza. According to Google Maps, according to Facebook, according to those guys on the vlog. Either the owners didn't notice the mistake when they made the business page on Google Maps, or they just didn't care.
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I see curious things on my virtual travels around Gaza. Like this Sonol gas station in Gaza City, nearly a quarter of a century after Israeli gas company Sonol pulled out.
The latest is this - a Gaza swimming pool gives its address, in Arabic, as "200 meters before Netzarim Junction (Shuhada)". Netzarim Junction is the Israeli name for a central junction officially called Shuhada (Martyrs) Junction, best known as scene of the A-Durra Incident.
Why hasn't there been an outbreak of cholera in Gaza?
We have been told over and over and over, since about 2009, that the water situation in Gaza is critical, that over 95% of the water is undrinkable, that an outbreak of cholera and typhoid is imminent. So what's going on?1/7
This is the Gaza Water Status Report for 2017, published June 2018 by the Palestinian water Authority. The situation looks dire. reliefweb.int/sites/reliefwe… 2/7
EU and UNICEF stepped up, and in early 2017 they opened a desalination plant in South Gaza Strip. Another, bigger one, is planned for 2019, if I understand correctly. ochaopt.org/content/larges…
But TBH this is far too little, far too slow. Still, there is no epidemic. Why not? 3/7