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Behind the numbers: Cairo donor conference

The financial commitments announced by donors at the Cairo conference and allocated to the Gaza Strip will not be diverted to the PA and the West Bank, as some media outlets have claimed.
A Palestinian rides a donkey cart past houses that witnesses said were damaged or destroyed by Israeli shelling during the most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the east of Gaza City October 21, 2014.  The first torrential downpour of an approaching winter has already soaked the Gaza Strip, compounding the misery of thousands of Palestinians who scrambled to patch homes wrecked by the summer war with Israel. While Palestinian officials rejoiced at $5.4 billion pledged at an international aid con

Following the announcement of the pledges at the Conference on Palestine: Reconstructing Gaza in Cairo, speculation about the Palestinian government of national consensus, ranging from corruption to limiting support to Gaza, has appeared in articles and on social media. Some articles went so far as to claim that the funds raised at the conference in Cairo will be diverted to the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s budget. However, this speculation could not be further from the truth.

While it is true that only about half of the amount announced at the donors conference in Cairo is specifically for Gaza, the other half will not be diverted to the West Bank.

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