Media coverage
Al Jazeera Net · 2014-09-08
Palestinian politicians and economists concluded that resolving the political and sovereignty question is essential for genuine development and for rebuilding the Gaza Strip, calling for a special national committee, alternatives to the Paris Economic Protocol, and rejection of Israeli restrictions on reconstruction materials. Speakers also presented major reconstruction cost estimates and warned that continued limits on crossings and building materials would delay the process for many years, while some sharply criticized the National Consensus Government and its performance.
Palestinian politicians and economists concluded that resolving the political and sovereignty question is essential for genuine development and for rebuilding the Gaza Strip, calling for a special national committee, alternatives to the Paris Economic Protocol, and rejection of Israeli restrictions…
Palestinian politicians and economists concluded that resolving the political and sovereignty question is an urgent necessity for creating real development in the Gaza Strip, calling for the formation of a special national committee to reconstruct what the occupation destroyed during its aggression on the Strip, and to invest the military mindset to achieve victory in other aspects at the same level.
The speakers at a conference titled "The Future of the Palestinian Cause after Gaza’s Victory," organized by the Academy of Management and Politics for Graduate Studies in Gaza City, recommended the need to find alternatives to the Paris Economic Protocol.
They also called for activating the joint ownership system, compensating the families of the martyrs and the wounded, not yielding to the occupation’s desire for the restrictions it seeks to impose on what will enter for Gaza’s reconstruction, and strengthening trade exchange by enabling the consensus government to work.
Self-sufficiency
Ziad al-Zaza, former Deputy Prime Minister in Gaza, stressed the need to examine the components of the Palestinian economy and benefit from them within the conditions in which the Strip is living.
He said that during the past period the government had achieved self-sufficiency in agricultural crops despite the blockade imposed on it.
"Ziad al-Zaza: The Cairo understandings must allow the entry of all goods necessary for reconstructing the Strip, and the economic vision can only be through economic independence"
He continued that the Cairo understandings must allow the entry of all goods necessary for reconstructing the Strip, stressing that the economic vision can only be through economic independence.
He added that insisting on an airport and seaport in Gaza is a "natural right," considering that Gaza has the right to have an airport and seaport not controlled by anyone in order to build real power, stressing that solving the political problem in this context would be followed by solving all economic problems.
For his part, Labor Minister in the consensus government Maamoun Abu Shahla said that the Israeli occupation launched this aggression on the West Bank and then extended it to Gaza, in order to end the new government by obstructing its work and the movement of its ministers.
Abu Shahla confirmed that the government formed a ministerial committee to reconstruct what the occupation destroyed during its aggression, and began preparations for the donors’ conference, which had been in Oslo and was then moved to Cairo, before being postponed once again to next October 10, asking whether it would be held or not.
Large figures
He explained that the cost of reconstructing Gaza was estimated at $7.6 billion according to specialized studies, noting that the amount of rubble reached 2.5 million tons, and that it contains thousands of unexploded bombs, whose removal cost amounts to $37 million.
He added that if Israel wanted to allow only one hundred trucks per day without opening the five crossings and opening the seaport, the airport, and the Rafah crossing, the Palestinians would not be able to accomplish their tasks, and the reconstruction file would take ten years.
In an intervention, economist Naji Sarhan explained that restricting the entry of construction materials according to the method leaked in the media means that reconstruction would require 18 years, and this means that we are facing a new explosion, calling for the full opening of the crossings without condition or restriction.
Sarhan called on the consensus government to provide urgent relief to all citizens and to work on paying rent allowances to those affected whose homes were demolished.
Putting the government on trial
As for economist Omar Shaban, he called for putting the consensus government on trial, accusing it of not having worked in a practical and clear manner since its announcement.
He questioned the reasons for the absence of clear and accurate lists with the consensus government, and added that this government does not deserve to remain after 51 days of the occupation’s aggression on Gaza.
He continued that he had hoped the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) would negotiate more seriously during the Cairo talks, and called on the government’s Minister of Social Affairs and everyone who had received money for the Palestinian people to announce the fate of those funds publicly.
He called for ending the previous political system with the end of the aggression, saying: "An 80-year-old figure has no right to negotiate in the name of the Palestinian people and control them."
Text © Al Jazeera Net — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source