Stomach-turning deprivation continues at Gaza museum

The poor, deprived people of Gaza have yet another place to spend their free time.

Welcome to the Al Mat-haf Museum and Cultural Center.

This is Gaza's main archaeological museum. Overlooking the Mediterranean, it boasts impeccable landscaping.

It includes a full-service restaurant:

It includes a well-manicured indoor terrace, complete with fountains.

The wretched poverty is too much to bear. Just looking at these pictures makes one want to join the next flotilla to help these poor, poor people. In June, 2009, Jimmy Carter visited Gaza. Here is what he said at the time:

To me, the most grievous circumstance is the maltreatment of the people in Gaza, who are literally starving and have no hope at this time.

During that same trip, Carter visited this museum along with John Ging. Here is a picture of Carter planting a tree there, with Ging looking on:

You can see how Carter was grieving at the starving people in the museum. Wearing suits. It looks like Treblinka. The museum part seems to be incidental to the work that goes into the terraces and restaurant spaces. Looking at the pieces in the museum, at least according to their web page, they have not identified a single archaeological object that they have display:

The reason might be because of something that the New York Times mentioned when they profiled the museum in 2008:

His collection includes thousands of items, but some of the most extraordinary will not go on display now, including a statue of a full-breasted Aphrodite in a diaphanous gown, images of other ancient deities and oil lamps featuring menorahs. Asked why, Mr. Khoudary noted Hamas’s rule and the conservative piety of the population and said simply, “I want my project to succeed.”

Gazans can take pride in knowing that their most beautiful treasures are hidden away because of prejudice.