Gaza reconstruction aid fettered by political motives

"Reconstruction efforts are being exploited to further weaken Hamas and coerce it into changing its position vis-a-vis the Zionist occupation," Essam al-Arian, leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition movement, told IPS.

On Monday (2 March), high-level representatives from more than 70 countries met in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm al-Sheikh where they pledged monies for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, still reeling after Israel's recent assault. Along with killing more than 1,400 Palestinians, the three-week onslaught damaged thousands of homes, offices and government buildings, and demolished much of the Hamas-run enclave's modest infrastructure.

At the conference, donor states pledged a total of more than 5 billion dollars for both rebuilding the battered Gaza Strip and for shoring up the wider Palestinian economy. Speaking shortly afterwards, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said the liberal amount -- almost double earlier Palestinian requests -- was "beyond our expectations."

There is, however, a catch. Primary donors, including both the US and the EU, insist that funds be distributed through pre-existing aid programs operated by multilateral institutions such as the UN and the World Bank. Notably, all such programs are run in coordination with the US-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) -- Hamas's bitter rival -- headed by Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

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