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Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak greets France's President Nicolas Sarkozy at the opening of International conference in support of the Palestinian Economy for the reconstruction of Gaza in Sharm El Sheikh on March 2, 2009 - Source: Reuters -
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International donors pledged over $3 billion to help the
Palestinian economy and rebuild Gaza after Israel's three-week
offensive, insisting their funds bypass the territory's Hamas
rulers.
Gulf Arab states, the United States and the European Commission
made significant pledges, while others including Turkey, Italy,
Germany and Algeria also announced contributions.
But the United Nations and aid agencies said rebuilding the coastal
enclave was a daunting task so long as border crossings with
battered Gaza remained closed.
"The situation at the border crossings is intolerable. Aid workers
do not have access. Essential commodities cannot get in," UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told donors at a one-day conference
on Gaza in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
"Our first and indispensable goal, therefore, is open crossings.
By the same token, however, it is therefore essential to ensure
that illegal weapons do not enter Gaza," he said.
Israel and Hamas were not invited to the conference which Egypt had
called for after the end of Israel's three-week military offensive
in Gaza in January. The Jewish state says it supports efforts to
help Palestinians in the strip, but wants assurances the aid money
would not reach Hamas militants.
"We definitely don't want to see the goodwill of the international
community exploited by Hamas and serve Hamas's extremist purposes,"
said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert.
The Israeli offensive killed 1,300 Palestinians. Thirteen Israelis
also were killed. The West shuns Hamas because it refuses to
recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept peace deals with the
Jewish state.
The Islamist Hamas, which is holding talks to form a unity
government with the rival Fatah group of Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas, said the boycott would undercut
reconstruction efforts.
"To bypass the legitimate Palestinian authorities in the Gaza Strip
is a move in the wrong direction, and it deliberately undermines
the reconstruction," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in
Gaza.
No money to Hamas
The Palestinian Authority had hoped to raise $2.78 billion at the
event, including $1.33 billion for Gaza.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged $300 million for Gaza
reconstruction and $600 million to support the authority's budget
shortfalls, economic reforms and security and private sector
projects run by the PA.
She was adamant that none of the money, which has to be agreed by
the US Congress, would go to Hamas.
"We have worked with the Palestinian Authority to install
safeguards that will ensure our funding is only used where and for
whom it is intended and does not end up in the wrong hands," she
said.
The European Commission pledged 440 million euros for Gaza and
Palestinian Authority reforms.
Saudi Arabia would donate $1 billion, and Qatar said it would pay
$250 million. Donations from Gulf Arab states will go through a
programme launched on Sunday in the Saudi capital.
But it remains unclear whether Israel would open Gaza's border
crossings to large quantities of supplies like cement and steel
needed to rebuild. Israel refuses the entry of materials it says
could be also used by militants to build rockets.
"Gaza should not actually be a prison with open skies," French
President Nicolas Sarkozy said through an interpreter.
Israel tightened its grip on Gaza's border crossings after Hamas
took control in June 2007, and says it will closely manage Gaza
reconstruction by requiring project-by-project approval and
guarantees that projects will not benefit Hamas.
Egypt, which also borders Gaza, refuses to open its Rafah crossing
for normal traffic, rather than for limited access.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said aid needed to reach
Gaza, be well spent and sustained.
"Otherwise the saga of reconstruction and destruction will go on
and on," he added.
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