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| In Gaza’s Rubble, Shelters Symbolize the Challenge Ahead | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| KHUZAA, Gaza Strip — Since the end of this summer’s war in Gaza, Rasmi Najjar, 65, has mostly spent his days in a makeshift tent at the site of his destroyed three-story house here near the border with Israel. | KHUZAA, Gaza Strip — Since the end of this summer’s war in Gaza, Rasmi Najjar, 65, has mostly spent his days in a makeshift tent at the site of his destroyed three-story house here near the border with Israel. |
| Before the house was hit in an Israeli airstrike, Mr. Najjar said, it was home to 25 members of his family. | Before the house was hit in an Israeli airstrike, Mr. Najjar said, it was home to 25 members of his family. |
| Now some of the Najjars — an extended clan that populates an entire neighborhood in this farming village of 15,000 people — are contemplating life in tiny, two-room trailers. | Now some of the Najjars — an extended clan that populates an entire neighborhood in this farming village of 15,000 people — are contemplating life in tiny, two-room trailers. |
| The temporary shelters, which began to be delivered here last week, should provide some relief as winter approaches. But they are also a grim symbol of the formidable challenge of rebuilding that confronts the residents and the authorities of Gaza. | The temporary shelters, which began to be delivered here last week, should provide some relief as winter approaches. But they are also a grim symbol of the formidable challenge of rebuilding that confronts the residents and the authorities of Gaza. |
| More than half of Khuzaa’s 3,000 or so homes were destroyed or damaged during the 50-day war. Israel bombarded border areas like this one from where it said Hamas, the Islamic militant group that dominates the Palestinian coastal territory, had dug tunnels into Israel. | More than half of Khuzaa’s 3,000 or so homes were destroyed or damaged during the 50-day war. Israel bombarded border areas like this one from where it said Hamas, the Islamic militant group that dominates the Palestinian coastal territory, had dug tunnels into Israel. |
| Though Khuzaa is not known as a Hamas stronghold — some homes here fly the yellow flag of the rival Fatah faction — Israeli artillery shells and bulldozers flattened parts of the village during the fighting in July and August as Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel. | Though Khuzaa is not known as a Hamas stronghold — some homes here fly the yellow flag of the rival Fatah faction — Israeli artillery shells and bulldozers flattened parts of the village during the fighting in July and August as Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel. |
| More than a month after the end of the war, Khuzaa, once a village of spacious villas and neat houses set amid acres of farmland, is struggling to recover. Only the rubble blocking the main street has been removed. Drinking water is trucked in and stored in plastic tanks donated by Oxfam and other aid organizations. Electricity is irregular. Women spend their days cooking on wood fires and hand-washing clothes near their damaged homes. At night many of them go back to schools or relatives’ homes where they have been sheltering outside the village. | More than a month after the end of the war, Khuzaa, once a village of spacious villas and neat houses set amid acres of farmland, is struggling to recover. Only the rubble blocking the main street has been removed. Drinking water is trucked in and stored in plastic tanks donated by Oxfam and other aid organizations. Electricity is irregular. Women spend their days cooking on wood fires and hand-washing clothes near their damaged homes. At night many of them go back to schools or relatives’ homes where they have been sheltering outside the village. |
| The Palestinian government of national consensus, which is backed by both Hamas and Fatah, announced its plan for the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza last week, putting the total cost for relief efforts and longer-term development and economic revitalization at $4 billion. It said $414 million was needed to respond to the immediate needs of citizens, with 110,000 residents of Gaza still displaced out of a population of some 1.8 million. | The Palestinian government of national consensus, which is backed by both Hamas and Fatah, announced its plan for the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza last week, putting the total cost for relief efforts and longer-term development and economic revitalization at $4 billion. It said $414 million was needed to respond to the immediate needs of citizens, with 110,000 residents of Gaza still displaced out of a population of some 1.8 million. |
| An international donor conference for Gaza reconstruction is to be hosted by Egypt on Sunday, with the participation of Norway and the Palestinians. | An international donor conference for Gaza reconstruction is to be hosted by Egypt on Sunday, with the participation of Norway and the Palestinians. |
| Mofeed M. Al Hassina, the Gaza-based minister of public works and housing in the Palestinian government, said that if the crossings into Gaza from Israel and Egypt were fully opened it would take five years to complete the reconstruction. But the way things look now, he said in a telephone interview, it could take 10 or 15 years. | Mofeed M. Al Hassina, the Gaza-based minister of public works and housing in the Palestinian government, said that if the crossings into Gaza from Israel and Egypt were fully opened it would take five years to complete the reconstruction. But the way things look now, he said in a telephone interview, it could take 10 or 15 years. |
| So the arrival of the small trailer homes — provided by a British charity, Human Appeal International, in cooperation with Mr. Hassina’s ministry — was greeted here with mixed feelings. | So the arrival of the small trailer homes — provided by a British charity, Human Appeal International, in cooperation with Mr. Hassina’s ministry — was greeted here with mixed feelings. |
| Mr. Najjar and his wife, Salma, had been allocated caravan No. 13 in an encampment across the road from their former home, one of two such encampments in Khuzaa. | Mr. Najjar and his wife, Salma, had been allocated caravan No. 13 in an encampment across the road from their former home, one of two such encampments in Khuzaa. |
| “We took it because there is no other place,” Mr. Najjar said. | “We took it because there is no other place,” Mr. Najjar said. |
| Like many here he has been renting a small home in the meantime, but the $2,000 provided by the authorities for temporary rented accommodation will soon run out. | Like many here he has been renting a small home in the meantime, but the $2,000 provided by the authorities for temporary rented accommodation will soon run out. |
| “I see moving here as very difficult,” Mr. Najjar said as he looked at the cramped interior of a trailer while waiting for a representative of the charity to deliver the keys. “It’s like moving from heaven to hell.” | “I see moving here as very difficult,” Mr. Najjar said as he looked at the cramped interior of a trailer while waiting for a representative of the charity to deliver the keys. “It’s like moving from heaven to hell.” |
| The trailers, assembled in Gaza out of sides of corrugated metal and packed closely together, open onto dirt alleys that residents say will turn to mud in the winter. “We will need boats to move between them,” Mr. Najjar said. | The trailers, assembled in Gaza out of sides of corrugated metal and packed closely together, open onto dirt alleys that residents say will turn to mud in the winter. “We will need boats to move between them,” Mr. Najjar said. |
| Each one consists of two rooms as well as a small, equipped kitchen and a bathroom with a shower above the toilet seat, amounting to about 345 square feet of living space. | Each one consists of two rooms as well as a small, equipped kitchen and a bathroom with a shower above the toilet seat, amounting to about 345 square feet of living space. |
| Mr. Najjar is a mukhtar, a village leader who is called on to settle local disputes. His destroyed home had a large diwan, or reception room, in the basement where he used to receive a stream of visitors seeking his mediation or counsel about their problems. | Mr. Najjar is a mukhtar, a village leader who is called on to settle local disputes. His destroyed home had a large diwan, or reception room, in the basement where he used to receive a stream of visitors seeking his mediation or counsel about their problems. |
| “Now if I receive a guest, I don’t know where we will sit,” he said. “We may sit in the street.” | “Now if I receive a guest, I don’t know where we will sit,” he said. “We may sit in the street.” |
| Others were more enthusiastic. One of Mr. Najjar’s married sons, a father of two, asked his father to give him the allotted trailer. Another member of the clan, Nedaa Najjar, 23, a mother of two girls who is in her ninth month of pregnancy, said her trailer was far better than the tent her family had been living in. She said she looked forward to moving in, along with her unemployed husband and her mother-in-law. | Others were more enthusiastic. One of Mr. Najjar’s married sons, a father of two, asked his father to give him the allotted trailer. Another member of the clan, Nedaa Najjar, 23, a mother of two girls who is in her ninth month of pregnancy, said her trailer was far better than the tent her family had been living in. She said she looked forward to moving in, along with her unemployed husband and her mother-in-law. |
| But Ahmed Khalil Najjar, a father of seven, said he had refused a trailer though he was eligible to receive one, angrily dismissing it as not large enough for his family. | But Ahmed Khalil Najjar, a father of seven, said he had refused a trailer though he was eligible to receive one, angrily dismissing it as not large enough for his family. |
| About 100 trailers were to be deployed in the two camps here at a cost of some $600,000. More are planned for other badly hit areas of the Gaza Strip, like Shejaiya and Beit Hanoun. | About 100 trailers were to be deployed in the two camps here at a cost of some $600,000. More are planned for other badly hit areas of the Gaza Strip, like Shejaiya and Beit Hanoun. |
| Shehda Abu Rok, the head of the village council in Khuzaa, said he had agreed to the trailer camps for the sake of the most vulnerable residents, with priority given to the elderly and the disabled and to families with no source of income. | Shehda Abu Rok, the head of the village council in Khuzaa, said he had agreed to the trailer camps for the sake of the most vulnerable residents, with priority given to the elderly and the disabled and to families with no source of income. |
| “The winter will cause worse damage than the war did,” Mr. Abu Rok said, noting that even those houses left standing had no windows. | “The winter will cause worse damage than the war did,” Mr. Abu Rok said, noting that even those houses left standing had no windows. |
| He said he did not expect reconstruction to be imminent because “it depends on politics and donors.” | He said he did not expect reconstruction to be imminent because “it depends on politics and donors.” |