Qatar has offered its “full readiness to contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip”, after a long-term ceasefire between Hamas and Israel to end the seven-week war was reached on August 26. “Qatar expressed its appreciation to all those who contributed to reaching this agreement and voiced its full readiness to contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip as soon as possible,” the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) said on Wednesday.
That Israel was looking to bring Gaza’s economy to its knees with a covert design to destroy the strip’s rudimentary infrastructure was quite evident during the latest conflict. Relief agency Oxfam describes the destruction of infrastructure in Gaza as the worst in nearly 20 years. The cost of rebuilding in the battered Strip after 50 days of massive Israeli shelling and aerial bombardment is expected to total as high as $10bn, according to UN officials.
An estimated 540,000 people, more than quarter of Gaza’s 1.8mn population have been displaced. The war, the longest fought between Israel and Hamas, has left 2,139 Palestinians dead, with most of them civilians, including 490 children. An estimated 15,000 homes were destroyed, while the power plant and a water treatment centre were bombed.
If the unprecedented destruction in Gaza is compared with damages to Israeli side, the lopsided nature of conflict becomes clearer. Israeli death toll totals 64 soldiers and six civilians. While scores of towns, cities and farms were hit by some 4,000 mortars and rockets fired from Gaza, the Israel Tax Authority estimates that rebuilding damaged infrastructure will cost just around $11mn.
Qatar has always been a major contributor to Gaza’s reconstruction with development and financial support. Last October, Qatar agreed to provide $150mn in debt relief to the Palestinian Authority. US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the move and urged other Arab countries to follow Qatar’s example.
The official Qatari committee for rebuilding Gaza has allocated $10mn and said it will give compensation to owners of homes damaged during the latest conflict. Qatari charities also have launched fundraisers for the rebuild.
Qatar’s generous aid to support the Palestinian cause is sharply contrasted with the “pledge-based” global sympathy for Palestinian rebuilding. In 2009, only a fraction of the nearly $5bn in funds promised at an international conference after a three-week war between Israel and Hamas actually arrived in the enclave. But Qatar last year started executing what it promised with construction projects in Gaza at a cost of more than $400mn.
“Qatar’s belief in the principles of humanity and its keenness on the lives of individuals and their right to freedom and dignity”, has always guided the country’s aid policy. Longer term, Qatar’s goal is to do all it can to see peace and justice across the region with collective action holding the key to lasting solutions for the crises not just in Palestine, but in Iraq, Syria and the entire region.
