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Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
Gaza rebuilding faces Israeli block on materials | |
2009-03-03 | |
Despite the international community's pledging billions to reconstruct the Gaza Strip after Israel razed much of it to the ground during its January offensive, donations have proved futile in the face of Israel's persistent blockade that has prevented key building material from entering the Strip for security reasons. "Hello? This is Mahmoud, over at Hamas! I wanna place an order for eight tons of dynamite... Of course it's for reconstruction... Can you ship that airmail? As world leaders met in Egypt for a conference on Gaza reconstruction, the irony of such efforts was palpable as Israel continued to block the passage of cement, iron and steel, all essential materials for reconstruction.
"[U]nless key goods are allowed in and Israel ends its blockade reconstructing Gaza will not happen," the international aid agency Oxfam warned in a press release Sunday. As important as the financial contributions expected to come out of hte donor's conference are, Oxfam's Jerusalem head officer Michael Bailey warned that they would be meaningless unless pressure is put on Israel to allow essential goods including building materials to enter Gaza. "We are facing on the one hand, large sums of money of potential use to the Strip and on the other, no means of using this money in substantive ways, on a large scale," Bailey told AlArabiya.net, adding that having a roof over one's head is basic humanitarian need.. Not being able to spend large sums of money does limit the graft potential ... | |
Posted by:Fred |
#5 How about an airlift? There's something appealing about dropping concrete block from 1000 feet. |
Posted by: Pappy 2009-03-03 17:08 |
#4 even better, so's they distribute more widely and evenly, do it in "clusters"? |
Posted by: Frank G 2009-03-03 15:40 |
#3 Funny, no mention of any Egyptian blockade. |
Posted by: Grunter 2009-03-03 12:20 |
#2 Dynamite's kinda weak, use something stronger, like RDX |
Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-03-03 12:10 |
#1 Can you ship that airmail? Oh, I'm sure the IDF could deliver 8 tons of dynamite by airmail... |
Posted by: Spot 2009-03-03 08:24 |