Rebuilding Gaza

Mohammad Amjad Hossain from Virginia, USA | Published: November 01, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The October 12 Cairo conference of donors, hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, announced a generous commitment of $5.4 billion for rebuilding Gaza. The amount exceeds the $4bn (£2.5bn) the Palestinian Authority had asked for.
Israel in its latest military attack on Gaza, dubbed Operation Protective Edge, from July 07 to August 04, destroyed more than 10,000 houses and displaced nearly a quarter of Gaza's 1.8 million residents. About 2,000 Palestinian, including 400 children, were killed.
This deadly attack by Israel against the Palestinians is nothing new. Since the occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967 Israeli leaders have systematically been conducting a war of terror to annihilate the Palestinians by hook or by crook and also expanding Jewish settlements on Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of the fourth Geneva Convention.
Of the amount committed by donor countries, Qatar has committed $ 1.0 billion while Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia pledged $ 900 million. Obama administration has committed $ 212 million for the reconstruction of Gaza strip. The generous contribution by donor countries reflects their confidence in the Palestinian Authority.
Independent of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), the Hamas was governing Gaza strip since 2006. Following reconciliation between the Hamas and the Fatah faction of the PLO in April last, the administration of Gaza has come under the Palestinian Authority. Now the unified government would control both the West Bank and the Gaza strip. A technocrat government would supervise reconstruction works of the Gaza strip until a new election takes place.
Donor contribution for rebuilding Gaza will be handled jointly by the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations.
It was Resolution 181 of the General Assembly of the United Nations which created two states in Palestinian territories: an Arab state and a state of Israel. The world body should now convene a special session of the General Assembly to decide on the fate of the Palestinians.
Mohammad Amjad Hossain is a former diplomat from Bangladesh and former President of Toastmaster International club of America. amjad.21@gmail.com