Gaza war recovery plans face huge obstacles

[DogPoundPup]

JERUSALEM, Jan 17 (Reuters) - International aid plans for post-war Gaza call for rushing in food and medicine and restoring water and power, but a wholesale reconstruction of the enclave is a long way off, Western diplomats said on Saturday.

Preliminary estimates of the cost of rebuilding from Israel's devastating military offensive top $1.6 billion, according to the diplomats. But they said a full accounting of the damage had yet to begin and would take weeks to complete.

Representatives of the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank held an emergency meeting in Jerusalem on Saturday to prepare an initial response to what a top U.N. official in Gaza has described as "hell on earth".

Food, cooking gas, fuel, electricity and running water are scarce, and Israel's bombing of smuggling tunnels under Gaza's border with Egypt will only increase Palestinian dependence on the limited supplies the Jewish state and Egypt let in.

Israel's cabinet was expected to approve a unilateral ceasefire later in the day. But without an accord with Hamas on who will control Palestinian border crossings, diplomats feared Israel would limit the inflow of goods, hampering recovery work and creating more hardship for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.


Edited to 4 paragraphs to conform to DU's fairuse policy for copyrighted material

Lithos
DU Moderator

more ... http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLH9909420090117?feedType=RSS&feedName=egyptNews

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Who is going to be there to work with?

Hamas is in tatters and won't stop fighting. It should be the PA, but that has its own issues.

Also the booby traps, unexploded ordnance, and other detritus of war will need to be dealt with.

[Marrah_G]

2. And who will pay for the reconstruction?

The Palestinians don't have any money.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Hopefully the Arab and Muslim states who have been using the Palestinians as proxies for years

[EFerrari]

6. In a just world, Israel and the US would split the bill. We did this. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. UK has promised to increase aid

He promised that the UK would increase its humanitarian aid over the next five years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7835875.stm

So that's something. And often, if one large European country does this, others have agreed to as well.

[GoesTo11]

4. Step 1

Hamas stops firing rockets once Israel ceases fire.

Just kidding, DU.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Looks like we are going to see if that happens in a few hours

[Vegasaurus]

7. Don't hold your breath

You might faint first.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. I am maintaining normal respiration rate at this point

At my age, that matters...