UPDATED | Guide ends years-long hiatus to show you the sights…

…of Gaza

And, no — it’s not me.

And, you can’t go there on your own, because the Israeli authorities (aided, alas, by Egypt) completely forbid the entry of tourists, one of the lesser-known facets of their perverse siege of the Gaza Strip that has ground on now for a dozen years (see HERE and HERE).

Nevertheless, a team from NPR recently went in as journalists and engaged long-lapsed tour guide Ayman Hassouna to show them some of the places — historic sites, colorful markets, mosques and churches, even a smattering of upscale hotels and restaurants — where he used to take visitors.

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Vintage 1960s postcard by the Israeli company Palphot (Photo: Daniel Estrin)

Now the NPR crew, headed by correspondent Daniel Estrin, take us along for the ride on their one-day immersion into a Gaza most of us will likely never get to see in person. Numerous interesting photographs, and both the text and audio versions of their report, await you HERE:

Here’s What Tourists Might See If They Were Allowed To Visit Gaza

Gaza has a second face: the face of culture, the face of tourism … We want to be Gaza open, for the people, for the world. Only that.

— Ayman Hassouna

UPDATE 2024

NPR reporter Daniel Estrin revisits (vicariously) the cultural treasures and touristic sites featured in his 2019 piece (above). All of them have either been obliterated, are heavily damaged, or inaccessible as a result of Israel’s indiscriminate, genocidal onslaught on the people of Gaza…

A requiem for Gaza’s iconic sites, destroyed in the war

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