http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056791.htm
News Agencies, Haaretz,Last update - 17:02 19/01/2009
Israel intends to exert control over the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip following its 22-day offensive, and is seeking guarantees that no projects will benefit Hamas, Western diplomats said on Monday.Israel, which declared a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday, retains full control over Gaza's commercial crossings, through which goods and other materials for rebuilding must pass.Smuggler tunnels under Gaza's border with Egypt, which were used by Hamas and many ordinary Palestinians to get around the Israeli-led blockade, were heavily bombed during the war and are, at least temporarily, out of commission.That gives Israel enormous power to shape the recovery effort, which will be largely financed by the international community.
Preliminary estimates put the damage at nearly $2 billion. Saudi Arabia said it would donate $1 billion.Western diplomats, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Israel has asked the United Nations and other aid groups to provide a detailed list of goods, equipment and personnel that they want to bring into the Gaza Strip, both to meet immediate needs and for rebuilding.Israel told the aid groups it would consider expanding the list of materials authorized to enter the Gaza Strip. Before the war, Israel blocked entry of most cement, steel and cash, saying Hamas used them for bunkers, rockets and militia salaries.
On Sunday, Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas announced separate cease-fires, ending the offensive that destroyed vast swaths of Gaza.Hamas militants wrested control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas's Palestinian Authority in a bloody 2007 coup. Abbas, who still controls the West Bank, is seen as weak and ineffectual by leaders of some Arab countries like Syria.On Sunday, six key European leaders on Sunday pledged to work to prevent Hamas from rearming. The commitments were offered both at the Sharm al-Sheikh summit in Egypt and at a meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The six leaders were British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency. They offered to provide troops and technological assistance to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons and terrorists into the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with Egypt and the United States.The leaders expressed support for the cease-fire in Gaza and for an end to Palestinian rocket fire on southern Israel. Olmert said that he also received on Saturday a letter from EU leaders pledging cooperation in halting the arms smuggling into Gaza.
The six leaders met with Olmert following a conference in Sharm al-Sheikh, where they spoke with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Abbas.UN Chief Ban urges Arab states to back Abbas in Gaza crisisMeanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged Arab leaders to join together in backing Abbas' efforts to reunite the war-ravaged Gaza Strip with the Fatah-ruled West Bank.Ban also said that Arab unity was crucial if the three-week Gaza conflict was not to be repeated in the future."The Palestinians themselves must face the challenge of reconciliation, and work to achieve a unified government under the leadership of President Abbas," Ban told an Arab League summit expected to approve $2 billion in aid to rebuild Gaza."I call on all Arab leaders to unite and support this endeavour. We cannot rebuild Gaza without Palestinian unity," he added.
At the same conference, Saudi Arabian King Abdullah announced on Monday that his country would donate $1 billion for reconstruction in Gaza."I announce on behalf of your brothers in Saudi Arabia that the kingdom will offer $1 billion as a contribution under the program proposed by this summit for the reconstruction of Gaza," said King Abdullah.The Gaza conflict has divided Arab countries, as recent meetings of Gulf states have shown.Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who negotiated with both Hamas and the Israelis to get a ceasefire, called for uniting all Palestinian factions in his speech at the summit. Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom Israel accuses of financing Hamas, voiced support for "Palestinian resistance".Ban has been touring the Middle East for a week urging Israeli leaders and Arab governments to do everything in their power to end the fighting in Gaza and prevent the humanitarian crisis for the coastal territory's 1.5 million people from worsening.He told reporters during the flight to Kuwait that if Arab states remain divided on Abbas and Palestinian unity, there was "no guarantee this [the Gaza conflict] will not happen again."In his speech in Kuwait, Ban reiterated that Israel must reopen border crossings with Gaza, allow humanitarian aid in and withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Likewise, he urged Hamas to stop firing rockets at southern Israel.But a permanent solution, he said, would require a return to the stalled Middle East peace process.
"A true end to violence, and lasting security for both Palestinians and Israelis, will only come through a just and comprehensive settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict," he said.
"The occupation that began in 1967 must end."
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