Representatives of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for economic aid to the Palestinians convened in New York on Sept. 26 for another round of talks on raising funds for the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza Strip. Prior to the conference, the United Nations issued an emergency report on the state of the PA and demanded immediate action on Gaza's health system, on the verge of collapse. Its top priority is infrastructure development plans for Gaza, most of which Israel has authorized. Some are already being implemented but require additional funding to be completed.
The donor states forum was established after the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accord in 1993. In its initial years and until the end of the second intifada in 2005, the group transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to the PA. The donations kept coming despite the widespread corruption in the PA, since all sides realized that stopping the funds would result in economic and humanitarian disaster. Donors did not always make good on their pledges for certain projects in Gaza or the West Bank, and sometimes the money that did reach its destination was caught up in red tape and not disbursed.
Now, things appear to have changed. Gaza’s humanitarian disaster clock is ticking and the repercussions of the enclave’s collapse are clear to all. The planned projects that have been presented to donor state representatives in New York are based on the emerging arrangement between Israel and Hamas. The deal, which includes a long-term cease-fire and an easing of Israeli restrictions on Gaza, is still in the making, having been delayed for months by Israel’s domestic political entanglement preventing the formation of a new government.
Meanwhile, Qatar is shepherding the projects along. While Egypt mediates between Israel and Hamas on such issues as cease-fires and understandings for a future deal or a long-term truce, the Qataris are helping promote economic works not only by funneling money into planned projects, but also by helping Israel and Hamas exchange messages to implement them.
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