“The conference … was held under Egyptian auspices with the participation of 75 delegations and some of the world’s most prominent leaders. … Palestinian Authority [PA] representatives from Ramallah presented a plan for the reconstruction of Gaza and asked donor countries for $2.7 billion. In East Jerusalem, people said this week: ‘These Americans gave Israel weapons and vast sums of money, which it used to destroy Gaza, now they are giving a fortune to rebuild what was destroyed. Is it any wonder they’re experiencing an economic crisis? … Two important delegations were conspicuously absent there, or, as described by al-Quds al-Arabi: ‘There were no representatives from Israel, which destroyed Gaza, and there were no representatives from Gaza, which was destroyed.’ … Against this backdrop one can state that there’s no point in talking about rehabilitating Gaza unless there’s a political solution for the Strip.”
The above is not a report about the donor conference held in Cairo Oct. 12 to discuss repairing the damage Israel inflicted on Gaza in Operation Protective Edge this summer. Rather, the quotation is from a report in the Israeli daily Calcalist about the March 2009 donor conference following Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, in December 2008. The same sort of exercise could be done using a news report from the World Tribune about the rehabilitation of Gaza after Operation Pillar of Defense at the end of 2012. Then, too, the Arab and international communities funded the rebuilding of residential neighborhoods, public buildings and infrastructure that collapsed under the tonnage of Israeli air force bombings. Then, as well, pundits said that true rehabilitation would only be possible within the framework of a diplomatic arrangement resulting in a lifting of the blockade on Gaza and an end to the Israeli occupation.
