| | |  | Last Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 |  | | | Gambling Era to End in Palestinian Territories
- Sunday, 19 Mar 2006
The Hamas has announced that the Oasis Casino, a gambling venue located in Jericho, will probably be closed down for good. The casino was built after the Oslo Accords and was foreseen as an entertainment and gambling venue that would service both the Palestinians and the Israelis. After the start of the second intifada in October 2000, and when the Palestinians used the roof of the casino to launch shooting attacks against the Israelis, the Israelis closed down the casino. It was later damaged by Israeli gunfire, was refurbished at a later stage, but never re-opened.
There are no legal gambling venues in Israel and in the short period that the casino was open, thousands of Israelis flocked to the casino to quench their gambling habit. In 1999, the gambling venue made a profit of $54 million from 2,900 people who visited the casino daily - 99% of them Israelis. During the period of relative peace in the area, it was not problematic for Israelis to enter the area of Jericho and enjoy gambling away.
Hamas, however, does not want to go back to this period of cooperation with the Israelis and have the Israelis enter the territories for gambling reasons. Gambling is also not allowed under Islamic law (Sharia) and the Hamas has made it clear that they would like to instate this law into the Palestinian territories. The closure of the casino will be a sign of power for the Hamas, as the casino represented the previous Palestinian Authorities power, which it wishes to quell.
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