Media coverage
ARA · 2021-05
The article argues that the Gaza ceasefire after more than ten days of bombardment does not mean an end to violence, occupation, or blockade, and that rebuilding the Strip will take years amid repeated large-scale destruction. It outlines damage to housing, agriculture, and infrastructure, notes that the UN will likely coordinate reconstruction efforts despite political and financial obstacles, and cites Omar Shaban warning that the cycle of violence, destruction, and rebuilding will continue unless the root issue is addressed.
The article argues that the Gaza ceasefire after more than ten days of bombardment does not mean an end to violence, occupation, or blockade, and that rebuilding the Strip will take years amid repeated large-scale destruction. It outlines damage to housing, agriculture, and infrastructure, notes th…
## It will take many years to reverse the alarming level of destruction in the city
Cairo No sooner had the ceasefire in Gaza agreed between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Strip, come into force than the images of celebration in the Palestinian enclave over the end of more than ten days of hostilities were overshadowed by those hurrying to remind everyone that the end of the bombardment will not mean the end of violence, occupation, and the blockade. And by those already warning that it will take many years to reverse Gaza’s alarming level of destruction, a territory permanently on the brink of collapse.
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For many, the ceasefire and the calls for reconstruction seemed little more than Groundhog Day: the same second part of the same cycle of destruction and reconstruction in which Gaza has been trapped for more than a decade. “This is the story that has unfolded over the last 15 years,” Omar Shaban, director of the research center PalThink, said by phone from the Strip. “We are in a circle of violence, destruction, and reconstruction, and we have to stop it.”
For now, the full scale of the material losses Gaza has suffered in Israel’s latest offensive is not clear, and it may still take some months to calculate. But the isolated figures offer a glimpse of the magnitude of the destruction: some 17,000 homes have been damaged, 1,800 of them uninhabitable, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Housing. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates losses in the sector at around 22 million euros. And the UN has painted an equally bleak picture: more than a hundred buildings destroyed, including businesses, energy shortages, effects on water supply and sewage, and dozens of damaged schools, hospitals, and clinics, in addition to the near-total destruction of the central covid-19 testing laboratory. More details will continue to emerge as the tens of thousands of internally displaced people return home and assess the damage.
The cost of reconstruction could climb into the billions of euros, and the efforts will most likely be coordinated by the UN. The organization’s secretary-general, António Guterres, on Thursday already called on the international community to work with the UN in this direction, although the mechanisms still have to be defined. The obstacles are numerous: many donors may be reluctant because of the danger that conflict could break out again soon, countries such as the United States do not deal directly with Hamas, which they consider a terrorist group, and coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is difficult.
The most recent point of reference is the 2014 military operation, the most devastating Gaza has experienced. By 2019, only half of the $3.5 billion pledged at the donors’ conference for reconstruction had materialized, and the mechanism devised by the UN to allow the entry into the Strip of construction materials restricted by Israel has been inefficient and controlled by Tel Aviv, so the recovery has been incomplete.
Now the first country to make a move has been Egypt, which has pledged to allocate around 400 million euros to the reconstruction of Gaza, in a decision interpreted as an attempt by Cairo to continue asserting its regional relevance after leading the mediation between Israel and Hamas. At the same time, the announcement anticipates possible similar gestures by the Gulf countries that last year signed agreements with Israel to normalize relations and that caused unease in Cairo, although they have not yet spoken publicly on the matter.
The United States, for its part, has already assured that it will contribute to reconstruction as part of its commitment to preventing future hostilities, as President Joe Biden announced on Thursday, and, pointing to a path forward, he anticipated that they would work with the UN and other actors such as the Palestinian Authority to channel these efforts.
“Do we need to discuss Gaza reconstruction number four? Number five? Or should we address the question of how to put an end to it? Donors may be able to rebuild what has been destroyed, but there is no guarantee that another war will not take place. The point is that we have to seek a root solution,” Shaban concludes.
Text © ARA — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source