by Dr. Reuven Berko
There is much revelry
in Cairo now. Representatives of 50 countries and 20 international
organizations, along with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
and Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, gathered in the Egyptian
capital on Sunday to discuss reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Abbas
feels safe in Cairo.
The same is not true in Gaza, where Abbas dispatched Hamdallah
last week. Positioned next to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi,
Abbas talked about the suffering of the people of Gaza and promised to
repair the damage Israel caused in the coastal enclave during Operation
Protective Edge.
In his address to the
conference attendees (who included outgoing EU foreign policy chief
Catherine Ashton, as well as the foreign minister of Sweden, a country
whose prime minister recently expressed support for unilateral
Palestinian moves), Abbas reiterated the main points of his recent U.N.
speech, including the demand for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967
borders. He reviewed Israel's "crimes" and accused Israel of "adding
fuel to the fire" by transforming the conflict from a national one into a
religious one. According to Abbas, Israel is acting against Christians
and Muslims in Jerusalem, and Israeli government ministers and settlers
are working together to impose "spatial and temporal division" in the
eastern part of the city. Abbas called this a provocation that
threatened "the security, stability, and civil peace of the entire
region."
Abbas said Gaza was in
need of $4 billion in international economic aid, part of a broader
development plan for all of "Palestine," including the West Bank and
east Jerusalem. He promised the reconstruction projects would be
conducted with transparency, a hint at the well-known tradition of
corruption both in the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
Sissi's speech was
realistic. While the Egyptian president talked about his country's
solidarity with the Palestinians, he emphasized that the reconstruction
of Gaza would not be successful without a permanent and stable
cease-fire, including Palestinian Authority control of Gaza and its
border crossings. In a coarse hint, Sissi condemned Hamas as
opportunists acting against the Palestinian people by promoting an
agenda that is contrary to Palestinian aspirations.
This is the crux of the
matter. Palestinian spokesmen have expressed dissatisfaction with
recent Hamas statements that the organization was ready to resume
fighting with Israel at any time. It appears that the demand, seemingly
directed at Israel, for a guarantee that the destruction in Gaza will
not happen again, is actually meant for Hamas.
Hamas finds itself
trying to walk up a down escalator. If reconstruction funds are
monitored by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas will be pushed to the
margins and the Palestinian Authority will return to power in Gaza.
However, if no reconstruction funds arrive, then Hamas will remain in
distress when it comes to the Gaza populace.
Fatah spokesman Ahmad
Assaf is cranky. The U.S. is donating $212 million for Gaza
reconstruction, more than any of the "sister" Arab states. While U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that U.N. institutions would
donate $1.2 million, Qatar is giving the Al Jazeera network more funding
to sow discord among Arabs, and Qatar is not serious about donating
money to Gaza that will be supervised by the Palestinian Authority
(although Qatar did pledge $1 billion at Sunday's conference).
It is true that Qatar
funded the construction of the tunnels under the Israel-Gaza border, as
well as the arming of Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups in the
region. Just recently, Qatar gave the Nusra Front around $25 million in
ransom money to free the U.N. observers from Fiji who were seized on the
Syrian side of the border in the Golan Heights. But Qatar will not help
the Palestinian Authority bring down Hamas in Gaza.
Promises are one thing,
while actions are another. And patience is good. Europe is bankrupt.
America is in an economic crisis. The Arab world is in chaos. Winter is
approaching. Hamas will not give up power in Gaza or its weapons. In the
meantime, in the words of Yasser Arafat, Abbas can either "pave" the
Gaza sea, or drink from its waters.
Dr. Reuven Berko
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=10217
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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