I visited Shujaya yesterday, and I swear that virtually nothing has been done in that area east of Gaza City..... it looks exactly as it did when I visited in the late summer... I did witness a little demolition of a few buildings, but we are now 5 months beyond the cease fire. The plan for rebuilding (and demolition) remains a dream at this time.... strictly a dream. No materials of any significant amount have entered Gaza and money to support the refugees and homeless has not materialized either - and is about to run out. This is very far from what was anticipated and promised when the cease fire agreement commenced. What was fully obvious is that children continue to live and play in areas where what remains of bombed structures look like they are about to fall on them. Israelis take no responsibility for its disproportionate destruction of this and other civilian areas throughout Gaza, and have yet to pay one penny toward the rebuilding of what they totally destroyed. A United Nations programme to rebuild Gaza and give aid and shelter to more than 100,000 Gazans made homeless by the 50-day summer war will be suspended at the end of January because world donors have reneged on promises to pay. After the war, known as Operation Protective Edge in Israel, world donors, meeting in Cairo in October, pledged $5.4 billion to reconstruct the bombed-out Strip but only a small proportion has been paid. A sum of $720 million was set aside for UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, for rebuilding the homes of Gaza’s refugees, who make up more than two thirds of the population. To date the UNRWA program is $580 million short.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:15:00 +0000
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