Palestinian Authority to provide $600m for Gaza

THE PALESTINIAN Authority in the West Bank has announced $600 million (€467 million) in funding for the reconstruction of all homes destroyed or damaged in Israel’s 23-day onslaught on Gaza.

Prime minister Salam Fayyad, who heads President Mahmoud Abbas’s western-supported government, said yesterday that $50 million would be spent on temporary housing and urgent requirements, and $17 million to repair electricity, water, and sewage networks.

The investment is meant to reaffirm the unity of the West Bank and Gaza, divided since Hamas took control of the Strip in 2007, said Mr Fayyad.

Egypt is set to host an international fundraising conference on March 2nd. Saudi Arabia has said it will donate half the estimated reconstruction cost of $2 billion. Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit urged the EU, the authority’s main donor, to provide humanitarian aid.

Europe is reluctant to pour large sums into reconstruction until there is a guarantee that dwellings and infrastructure will not be destroyed by Israel or Palestinian in-fighting. During Israel’s offensive the World Bank-donated sewage treatment facility and the EU-funded parliament building were destroyed. Donors also want to ensure Israel will not prevent supplies of cement, glass, iron reinforcing rods, and other building materials – banned for more than three years – into Gaza.

Meanwhile, UN Relief and Works Agency Spokesman (UNRWA) Christopher Gunness accused Hamas-affiliated police of staging a Tuesday raid on a UN warehouse in Gaza City and seizing 3,500 blankets and 400 food parcels destined for needy families. He said the incident “took place after UNRWA staff had refused to hand over the aid supplies to the Hamas-run ministry of social affairs. The police . . . broke into the warehouse and seized the aid by force. The aid was due to be distributed to 500 families in the area”.

UNRWA condemned the confiscation of the goods and demanded their immediate return.

“UNRWA has a strict system of monitoring delivery and ensuring that its assistance reaches only the intended beneficiaries,” said Mr Gunness. He added that this was the first time Hamas had taken UN goods but Israel says that the group routinely seizes relief supplies en route to other agencies.