No Mechanism for Import of Cement
Five days after the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are asking when and how reconstruction of the battered coastal enclave will begin. United Nations workers in the Gaza Strip say that 55,000 refugees are still taking shelter in 41 UN schools raising questions about how the school year will begin in two weeks, already delayed from its scheduled opening in August.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah told representatives of several international organizations that the Palestinian Authority will repair homes that have been partially destroyed and will rent homes as well as secure temporary homes and even tents for displaced people. It was the first sign that the PA will take a more active role in Gaza, which was controlled by Hamas since 2007. In June, Hamas and Fatah announced a unity government, but it has not met or functioned since the fighting began soon after the announcement.
A report by Shelter Cluster, which is co-chaired by the United Nations Relief and Works Authority (UNRWA) and the Red Cross, found that 17,000 homes have been destroyed or severely damaged in the seven weeks of fighting. An additional 5000 homes still need repair from previous rounds of fighting, while even before the fighting there had been a deficit of 75,000 homes. Shelter Cluster says that at the rate of 100 trucks with building materials crossing the border into Gaza, it would take 20 years to rebuild the densely populated strip.
“Everyone is waiting for the new instructions on how to get building materials into Gaza,” UN Spokesman in Gaza Adnan Abu Hasna told The Media Line. “But we have not received anything new from the Israelis and they say that everything will be like what it was before.”
Abu Hasna said the situation in Gaza is still very difficult with water running for only 2 – 3 hours per day, and electricity up to six hours a day. He said he was shocked by the extent of the devastation in the northern part of the Gaza Strip as well as the southern town of Rafah.
“It looks like there was a tsunami or an earthquake in some places,” he said. “This is much worse than in the previous wars with Israel.”
One of the points of the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire initiative is that Israel will allow cement and other reconstruction materials into Gaza under international supervision. Israeli officials say that the discovery of dozens of cement-lined underground tunnels from Gaza into Israel proves that cement is a “dual-use” material that needs to be closely supervised. They say that once an agreement is reached on supervision, they are ready to begin bringing cement and iron into Gaza.
“All of the issues of reconstruction and building materials will need a special authority to make sure that it is being used for reconstruction,” Major Guy Inbar, the spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) told The Media Line. “In the last few days COGAT has conducted some meetings with senior officials from the international community and the Palestinian Authority in order to establish the supervisory and control mechanism.”
He said he could not give a timetable about how and when that would happen but said COGAT is prepared to expand the number of trucks crossing from Israel into Gaza as needed.
A European Union official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said the EU is prepared to expand its role in Gaza as well. In 2005, the EU agreed to act as monitors for the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, to make sure that terrorists were not coming into Gaza. The mission was abandoned in 2007, after Hamas took over Gaza. Since then, Egypt has kept a tight lid on the crossing, allowing mostly humanitarian cases to cross from Gaza into Egypt.
“We are not involved in the cease fire agreement but we said we’re ready to contribute to any post conflict arrangements,” the EU official said. “we are ready for a potential expansion of the mandate of the Rafah mission and anything we can do to support the PA in building the security forces in Gaza.”
It is not clear how involved the PA, led my Mahmoud Abbas will be, in Gaza. Israel wants them to take a more active role, as Israel trusts the PA security forces. But the thousands of Hamas police and security forces are not likely to want to give up their jobs. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri has said that Israel’s demands for a demilitarized Gaza are “worthless.”
Egypt, which brokered the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, says it will host a donor’s conference in October. Until then it is not likely that any reconstruction efforts will even begin.