Gaza’s only piano seized by merchant
GAZA CITY: A local businessman seized the Gaza Strip’s only grand piano, claiming he owned the instrument, just days after it made its public debut in a landmark concert following a complicated international restoration effort.
Sunday’s recital provided a lucky audience a rare opportunity to see a live concert in Gaza, whose cultural offerings have greatly dwindled since the Hamas militant group seized power in 2007.
The Edward Said Conservatory, which sponsored the concert, had proudly showed off the piano, hop- ing to make it the centre-piece of Gaza’s only music school.
But the fanfare over the piano’s revival was short-lived.
The instrument is now locked up in storage amid a bitter property dispute, inaccessible to the young students who had hoped to practice on it.
“The piano should return to the conservatory for the benefit of all students,” said Ismail Daoud, the director of the music school.
It was the latest twist in a long saga for the piano.
Japan donated the black Yamaha 20 years ago – when Gaza was governed by the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority.
It was housed in a theatre at the al-Nawras resort in northern Gaza.
Business had slowed down after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule in 2000.
After Hamas ousted the Palestinian Authority in 2007, the resort eventually closed.
The piano was nearly destroyed in Israeli airstrikes that badly damaged the theatre during wars in 2008 and 2014.