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Temporary Deal Reached on Gaza Reconstruction Material Temporary Deal Reached on Gaza Reconstruction Material
(about 2 hours later)
UNITED NATIONS — A senior United Nations diplomat told the Security Council on Tuesday that Israeli and Palestinian officials had reached a temporary deal to import reconstruction materials into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, which he hoped would lead to a broader agreement on opening border crossings and ending a longstanding blockade. UNITED NATIONS — Momentum for the rebuilding of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip advanced on Tuesday, with a senior United Nations diplomat briefing the Security Council on a temporary deal between Israeli and Palestinian officials to import cement and other building materials.
The Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, will have “a lead role in the reconstruction effort,” while United Nations monitors will make sure that reconstruction materials are not “diverted from their entirely civilian purpose,” said the diplomat, Robert Serry, the United Nations special envoy for the Middle East peace process. The diplomat, Robert Serry, the special envoy for the Middle East peace process, told the council that he hoped the deal would lead to a broader agreement on opening border crossings to Gaza and on ending severe restrictions on imports to the Palestinian territory, where the economy had stagnated before the 50-day war this summer.
Israel has long insisted that its blockade on a range of goods, including cement, is necessary to prevent the militant group Hamas from using them to build underground tunnels into Israel. The blockade is a source of intense frustration for Gazans. The Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, will have “a lead role in the reconstruction effort,” while United Nations monitors will ensure that reconstruction materials are not “diverted from their entirely civilian purpose,” Mr. Serry said.
The advance in diplomacy came as the Israeli military reported that a mortar shell fired from Gaza had landed in Israel on Tuesday evening, the first such incident since the Aug. 26 cease-fire. No damage or injuries were reported, and it appeared to be the work of a rogue militant individual or group, not Hamas, the dominant power in Gaza.
Israel has long insisted that its restrictions on a range of goods, including cement, is necessary to prevent Hamas from using them to build underground tunnels into Israel. The limitations are a source of intense frustration for Gazans.
“Arriving at this agreement has not been without its challenges,” Mr. Serry said, according to a prepared statement. “We consider this temporary mechanism, which must get up and running without delay, as an important step toward the objective of lifting all remaining closures, and a signal of hope to the people of Gaza.”“Arriving at this agreement has not been without its challenges,” Mr. Serry said, according to a prepared statement. “We consider this temporary mechanism, which must get up and running without delay, as an important step toward the objective of lifting all remaining closures, and a signal of hope to the people of Gaza.”
Mr. Serry spoke three weeks after a truce that halted two months of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas militants. More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, including 500 children and 250 women, according to the United Nations. On the Israeli side, 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed, including one child. Mr. Serry spoke three weeks after a truce reached in Cairo that halted intense fighting between Israel and Hamas militants. More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, including 500 children and 250 women, according to the United Nations. On the Israeli side, 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed, including one child.
The three-way agreement on reconstruction is between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations. Mr. Abbas announced the agreement last Thursday in a televised meeting of the Palestinian leadership. The estimated reconstruction cost is about $7 billion, Palestinian leaders have said. An international donor conference is scheduled for next month.The three-way agreement on reconstruction is between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations. Mr. Abbas announced the agreement last Thursday in a televised meeting of the Palestinian leadership. The estimated reconstruction cost is about $7 billion, Palestinian leaders have said. An international donor conference is scheduled for next month.
Donors, however, are likely to be wary of committing funds without assurances of a more enduring peace deal.Donors, however, are likely to be wary of committing funds without assurances of a more enduring peace deal.
The cease-fire agreement signed in Cairo in August says nothing about disarming Hamas, nor the dismantling of its underground tunnels, offering little comfort to Israel. The Palestinians are pushing for a Security Council resolution that would strengthen the Cairo truce. A further complication is the deteriorating relationship between Hamas and Mr. Abbas’s Fatah faction, which signed a reconciliation deal in April after a seven-year schism. It is unclear whether Hamas will continue to participate in a unified Palestinian delegation for the Cairo talks, which are supposed to resume soon to address unresolved issues in the cease-fire pact.
One of the points of contention in a draft text is the question of disarmament. Arab diplomats have said they could reach agreement on specific language that prohibits the smuggling of arms by militant groups into Gaza — language that is already part of a previous Council resolution — but not on broad disarmament language. It remains unclear whether the United States, a veto-wielding member of the Council and Israel’s principal ally, would agree. The reconstruction arrangement would give Mr. Abbas a foothold in Gaza, where he has recently accused Hamas of running a shadow government. Hamas, buoyed in public opinion by the fighting, would have difficulty blocking any reconstruction effort, but may limit Mr. Abbas’s operations.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, speaking to reporters on Tuesday about the annual General Assembly debate next week, urged the Security Council to come to an agreement on a Gaza resolution. The cease-fire agreement says nothing about disarming Hamas, nor the dismantling of its underground tunnels, offering little comfort to Israel. The Palestinians are pushing for a Security Council resolution that would strengthen the Cairo truce.
One point of contention in a draft text is the question of disarmament. Arab diplomats have said they could reach agreement on specific language that prohibits the smuggling of arms by militant groups into Gaza — language that is already part of a previous council resolution — but not on broad disarmament language. It remains unclear whether the United States, a veto-wielding member of the council and Israel’s principal ally, would agree.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, urged the Security Council to come to an agreement on a Gaza resolution.
“This cease-fire is not perfect, not a sustainable one,” he said. “It’s fragile still. It would be important that the international community, particularly led by the Security Council, urge the parties to make the cease-fire more sustainable, more durable.”“This cease-fire is not perfect, not a sustainable one,” he said. “It’s fragile still. It would be important that the international community, particularly led by the Security Council, urge the parties to make the cease-fire more sustainable, more durable.”
Mr. Serry offered a stark inventory of Gaza damage in his statement to the Security Council. He said 100,000 Palestinians had lost their homes, with 18,000 houses “destroyed or severely damaged.” He said 111 United Nations installations, many of them schools and hospitals, were damaged. Offering a stark inventory of Gaza damage, Mr. Serry told the Security Council that 100,000 Palestinians had lost their homes, with 18,000 houses “destroyed or severely damaged.” He said 111 United Nations installations, many of them schools and hospitals, were damaged.
His briefing came alongside the release of a dire World Bank report predicting that the Palestinian economy would contract in 2014 after seven years of growth. Mr. Serry told reporters after the council meeting that his office would try to start reconstruction work “as quickly as possible.”
Even before the summer’s fighting, the report said, nearly half of the people in Gaza and one out of six in the West Bank were unemployed. The economy of the Palestinian territories shrank by 1 percent in the first quarter of 2014, after a meager 1.9 percent growth rate in 2013. But it was unclear exactly how the new mechanism would work, when it would begin, or how much material would be allowed through. Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s defense minister, told Israeli military reporters earlier on Tuesday that the number of trucks allowed through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing would increase to 380 a day from an average of 250, but that includes commercial goods and food.
“This is an unsustainable situation,” Steen Lau Jorgensen, the bank’s director for the West Bank and Gaza, said in a statement ahead of the report being presented next week to the twice-yearly meeting of donors to the Palestinian Authority. Mali Cohen, a spokeswoman for the Israeli agency that coordinates civilian activity in Gaza, said that “it will be a few weeks” before the new import mechanism is in place. “We don’t have information now” regarding how the mechanism would work or how much material would enter Gaza, Ms. Cohen said. “It’s something in principle. It’s not something specific for now.”
Mr. Serry’s briefing came alongside the release of bleak reports by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on the prognosis for the Palestinian economy after seven years of growth.
Even before the summer’s fighting, the World Bank report said, nearly half of the people in Gaza and one out of six in the West Bank were unemployed.
“This is an unsustainable situation,” Steen Lau Jorgensen, the World Bank’s director for the West Bank and Gaza, said in a statement ahead of the report’s presentation next week to the twice-yearly meeting of donors to the Palestinian Authority.
“Without immediate action,” Mr. Jorgensen warned, “a return to violence as we have seen in recent years will remain a clear and present danger.”“Without immediate action,” Mr. Jorgensen warned, “a return to violence as we have seen in recent years will remain a clear and present danger.”
The report said that a quarter of the Palestinian population lived in poverty, and that Palestinian businesses were “crippled” by Israel’s restrictions on travel and trade.The report said that a quarter of the Palestinian population lived in poverty, and that Palestinian businesses were “crippled” by Israel’s restrictions on travel and trade.
In the Palestinian private sector, it said, 11 percent of companies have more than 20 employees, compared to 35 percent in countries with similar income levels. The I.M.F. report said it expected the economy of the Palestinian territories to shrink by 3.5 percent to 4 percent this year. It estimated that the economy in Gaza would shrink to 70 percent of its level in 2005.
Before the summer’s violent escalation with Israel, Gaza was already in recession, and the Palestinian Authority faced a deficit of about $350 million, the World Bank said. It called for an increase in donor support, a strengthening of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, and a lifting of Israeli restrictions. “Within this fragile sociopolitical context, economic recovery becomes a priority,” Mr. Jorgensen said in the statement.Before the summer’s violent escalation with Israel, Gaza was already in recession, and the Palestinian Authority faced a deficit of about $350 million, the World Bank said. It called for an increase in donor support, a strengthening of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, and a lifting of Israeli restrictions. “Within this fragile sociopolitical context, economic recovery becomes a priority,” Mr. Jorgensen said in the statement.