Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Nearly sixteen months after an Israeli offensive caused widespread destruction to the Gaza Strip, approximately three quarters of the coastal enclave's buildings and infrastructure have yet to be repaired, a UN report issued Sunday said. So...tell them to get off their lazy asses and fix it.
The report from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), produced in partnership with the Gaza-based Engineering and Management Consulting Center, estimates that another 527 million US dollars will need to be spent to reconstruct all the buildings damaged during Operation Cast Lead, which took place in December 2008 and January 2009, the UN's official news agency reported.
Ummmmm...no thanks.
About 173 million US dollars have already been provided through compensation and grants to carry out mostly small-scale repairs, according to the report, One Year After, which was issued Sunday. Those repairs have often been conducted using recycled rubble and other materials brought in from Egypt via cross-border tunnels because of the Israeli blockade of Gaza imposed in 2007 following Hamas' takeover, leading to a ban in construction material.
173 million for small scale repairs using recycled junk? What's a tradesman make over there, 100,000 an hour? Or could it perhaps be in some Hamas Swiss bank account? For "safe keeping". So nobody steals it.
The report – which focuses on both early recovery and reconstruction needs – says educational facilities such as schools are among the categories of buildings hardest hit since the offensive. More than 82 percent of such facilities remain unrepaired or unreconstructed, the news site reported.
I'll bet the mosques are up and running...
Private homes are also affected, with almost none of the 3,425 homes that were destroyed in the conflict having been reconstructed. An estimated 75 percent of agricultural land and premises and 60 percent of private businesses are also still damaged, the report says.
They'd like to fix it, but seething takes up most of their time...
But the report notes that Gaza has been assisted by 151 million US dollars given by donors in the form of job-generation schemes, food aid and other projects, the news site reported.
Metal shop worker, tunnel designer, foot wound specialists...
Gaza also experienced “a degree of economic recovery' last year, with a fall in unemployment rates, a rise in the number of operating industrial facilities as well as continued informal trade through the tunnels, according to the report.
Growth sectors? Metal shop worker, tunnel designer, foot wound specialists...
“However, the sustainability of this limited recovery is questionable,' the report states, citing the declining purchasing power of the estimated 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza and their dependence on outside aid.
Yeah, we all know what that means. Hold on to your wallets...