Qatar Starts Project to Rebuild Homes Hit by War in Gaza Strip
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Version 0 of 1. GAZA CITY — Qatar began a $1 billion effort on Tuesday to rebuild 1,000 homes that were damaged or destroyed during the war last summer between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Mohammed al-Emadi, the Qatari ambassador leading his country’s share of the reconstruction, said four trucks of cement for the project had arrived in Gaza from Israel. Mofeed al-Hasayna, the Palestinian minister of public works, said construction would begin in two days, but noted that the Qatari project would cover only a fraction of the 130,000 homes hit by Israeli strikes last summer. Qatar’s $1 billion is part of $5.4 billion pledged by international donors last fall in Cairo both to rebuild Gaza and to prop up the Palestinian Authority, perpetually in budget trouble. Palestinian officials have complained for months that few donors have fulfilled their pledges, stalling reconstruction, amid continuing conflict between the government and Hamas, the Islamist faction that dominates Gaza. |