Read this article carefully. It was a press release by AP. I excised the bullshit. It says “up to 800″and “in the coming months”. The donor conference hasn’t even taken place yet. Nor has negotiations in Cairo over opening up the borders and demilitarization started. Israel agreed to this in part to induce Hamas to maintain the ceasefire. Even so there are many caveats. This deal was agreed to by the PA, Israel and the UN. Hamas was not involved. Ted Belman
A deal reached on war-battered Gaza’s reconstruction is set to be implemented in the coming months, with the amount of building materials entering the territory expected to quadruple, a UN official said Wednesday, in the first details of the agreement to emerge.
James Rawley, a UN Mideast envoy, said that under a mechanism agreed to by the Palestinians, Israel and the UN, up to 800 truckloads of construction materials will enter Gaza per day – a jump from the 200 or so trucks that enter now, he said.
“This facilitates recovery and reconstruction of Gaza and we’re hoping that this step in the right direction will set the stage for an even more meaningful opening of the crossings,” Rawley, the deputy UN envoy for the Mideast peace process, told The Associated Press.
The agreement comes ahead of a donor conference in Egypt next month, where international benefactors will be looking for guarantees that their pledges materialize into actual construction. Palestinian officials estimate rebuilding Gaza could cost $6 billion.
The UN says some 18,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged in the fighting.
Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas overran the territory in 2007. The embargo was meant to isolate the Islamic militant Hamas and perhaps loosen its grip on power.
Trade and travel has been severely restricted, and the entry of goods – including construction materials – has also been limited. Israel says Hamas has in the past diverted cement and steel imported for schools and homes for military purposes, including to build underground tunnels used in attacks against Israel.
Rawley said the UN will monitor the goods from their point of purchase to the end user in Gaza, addressing Israeli security concerns that the materials could be used by Hamas militants.
He said that building in Gaza requires Israel to approve some 100 million dollars’ worth of projects, something that the new deal does not address, although talks are taking place on the issue.
Earlier Wednesday, the deputy Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Mustafa, welcomed the deal, but said a greater easing on the movement of goods and people was also needed.
This is terrorist “W-hack-a-mole” Israel knocks ’em down – the UN sets ’em up”.
They are of course referring to Huxley’s novel “Eyeless in Gaza”
How?
who will get the tax money, protection money, kickbacks, bribes which will be generated by this massive influx of CASH. everyone wants their cut of the pie…..but what will each player do with their cut of the pie.