US PLANS TO GIVE $900 MILLION TO GAZA!
(Haaretz News)
By Reuters
Preliminary estimates put the damage in Hamas-run Gaza after Israel’s offensive at nearly $2 billion.
Secretary of State Clinton’s bid to get the $900 million could face an uphill battle in Congress where requests for Gaza will likely meet resistance as Hamas continues to rule there and the U.S. focus is on its own souring economy.
In December, the former Bush administration said it would give $85 million to the United Nations agency giving aid to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Hamas is labeled a terrorist group by the United States and money must be channeled through UN bodies or the Palestinian Authority run by President Mahmoud Abbas.
The United States wants Abbas’ PA to play a central role in the reconstruction effort in Gaza, hoping this will increase its influence in the Hamas stronghold. Washington is also putting pressure on other donors to bolster the Palestinian Authority. Hamas ousted Fatah from Gaza in a bloody 2007 coup.
“We call on donor countries to focus their pledges to meet the Palestinian Authority’s priorities, including budget support, and on projects that can be funded through the Palestinian Authority and other existing, trusted mechanisms,” said the State Department official.
The quartet of Middle East mediators - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Egyptian conference where they will work on strategy on Gaza, U.S. officials said.
“We will also emphasize the importance of laying the conditions for successful negotiations toward the two-state solution and an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict,” the State Department official said of discussions in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egypt will be Clinton’s first stop on a trip expected to include Israel and the occupied West Bank - a public demonstration of the Obama administration’s promise to make Arab-Israeli peacemaking a foreign policy priority.
The State Department has not formally announced her other stops in the region but Israeli officials said Clinton was expected there after the Egyptian conference.
Clinton’s special envoy to the region, George Mitchell, is set to visit there this week in a bid to revive stalled Palestinian statehood talks complicated both by Hamas and political uncertainty in last week’s general election.
On Sunday, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to work with U.S. President Barack Obama for Middle East peace by pursuing the formation of a broad coalition government.
“I intend and expect to cooperate with the Obama administration and to try to advance the common goals of peace, security and prosperity for us and our neighbors,” the U.S.-educated Netanyahu told reporters.
Following a February 10 election, Netanyahu already has the backing of 65 rightist members of the 120-seat parliament, but a narrow government could put him on a collision course with Obama and his promise to move quickly on a Palestinian statehood deal.
