Qatar yesterday promised US$1 billion in reconstruction aid for Gaza at a donor conference in Cairo, topping US and European pledges for the devastated Palestinian enclave.
“Qatar announces its participation with US$1 billion for the reconstruction of Gaza,” Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah said.
Washington earlier called for renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians as a donor conference pledged millions for rebuilding the ruin left by this summer’s conflict in Gaza.
Photo: AFP
The US and EU member states made substantial pledges of new aid at the conference in Cairo, but expressed wariness of financing the reconstruction of Gaza without a peace deal in sight.
The crowded coastal enclave, ruled by the Islamist militant Hamas movement since 2007, remained a “tinderbox,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the conference.
The US pledged US$212 million in new aid, to meet what US Secretary of State John Kerry described as an “enormous” challenge in Gaza.
Kerry, who failed to broker a peace deal earlier this year, urged renewed talks and said that the Palestinians and Israelis needed to make “tough choices”.
The call was echoed by Arab and European envoys.
“The people of Gaza do need our help, desperately, not tomorrow, not next week. They need it now,” Kerry told the gathering of some 30 global envoys.
The Palestinians asked for up to US$4 billion in international aid after Gaza was devastated in its 50-day conflict with Israel in July and August.
EU member states are to contribute a total of 450 million euros (US$568 million) to Gaza, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said.
There is widespread concern that — after three destructive conflicts in the past six years — any help to Gaza will eventually be lost to more violence.
Ban expressed the fears of many when he told the conference the situation in Gaza remained potentially explosive.
“Gaza remains a tinderbox; the people desperately need to see results in their daily lives,” the secretary-general said.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said donor nations were “suffering fatigue” in the absence of a peace deal.
“Many countries who have been generous in their support for the Palestinians are indeed suffering from donors’ fatigue, and they are right,” he said, referring to repeated conflicts in Gaza.
The Palestinian government unveiled a 76-page reconstruction plan ahead of the conference, with the lion’s share of assistance to build housing.
“Gaza has suffered three wars in six years. Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the conference.
Kerry said the new aid brought Washington’s contribution to helping Gaza to more than US$400 million over the past year alone.
Kerry was due later to meet Abbas to press for further peace efforts.
“Make no mistake. What was compelling about a two-state solution a year ago is even more compelling today,” Kerry said.
This summer’s conflict killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, while attacks by Gaza militants killed 73 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
One crucial question will be how the aid is delivered, especially given Israel’s strict blockade of the territory since 2006.
Israel was not invited to the conference, but Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said any effort would need his government’s consent.
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