Int'l Donors To Hamas: Here's $4.4 Billion To Rebuild Infrastructure That Israel Never Destroyed
Four and a half billion dollars that Hamas can transfer from infrastructure development to launching rockets at Israeli schools and hospitals:
Palestinian officials from rival factions welcomed pledges of more than $4.4 billion to rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip that were made at the donors conference held in Sharm e-Sheikh on Monday. "We appreciate this very much, and we hope it can be transferred into reality in an expeditious fashion so we can see the reconstruction of Gaza begin immediately," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told The Jerusalem Post. Earlier on Monday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told reporters in Gaza that the group welcomed "any Arab and international effort to rebuild what the occupation destroyed," calling the reconstruction process "a humane and moral" one.
And no of course Israel didn't do 4.4billion in damage. In fact new eyewitness reports says that they didn't do much damage to civilian infrastructure at all:
What I saw was that there had been precision attacks made on all of Hamas' infrastructure. Does UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticize the surgical destruction of the explosives cache in the Imad Akhel Mosque, of the National Forces compound, of the Shi Jaya police station, of the Ministry of Prisoners?... THERE WERE empty beds at Shifa Hospital and a threatening atmosphere... Terrorized Gazans used doublespeak when they told me most of the alleged 5,500 wounded were being treated in Egypt and Jordan. They want it known that the figure is a lie, and showed me that the wounded weren't in Gaza. No evidence exists of their presence in foreign hospitals, or of how they might have gotten there... Gazans contradicted allegations that Israel had murderously attacked civilians. They told me again and again that both civilians and Hamas fighters had evacuated safely from areas of Hamas activity in response to Israeli telephone calls, leaflets and megaphone warnings.
No worries though, because Clinton says that only $300 million of the $900 million US contribution will be going to Gaza. Hamas will have to join a unity government before Abbas gives them the rest of the money:
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday a new national unity government that includes Hamas must be in place and internationally recognized to manage humanitarian aid for Gaza and the West Bank. Past efforts to form a unity government have failed. Reconciliation talks are scheduled to begin in Egypt later this week between Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which controls the West Bank.
Post-Cast Lead infrastructure assistance to Israel, the victim of the eight years of missile barrages that provoked the war, continues to stand at zero.
References:
* Over $4.4b. raised at Sharm for Gaza [JPost]
* Gaza: We've been had [Israel Matzav]
* US Pledges $1B Stimulus Package... For Gaza [MR]
* Abbas: Unity needed to manage aid [JPost]
Previously:
* No But Seriously - Hamas Doesn't Really Think They Won Cast Lead, Do They?
* Hamas Launches More Rockets At Israeli Civilians, Accuses Israeli Politicians Of Being "Terrorists"
* Hamas Hooks Up Smuggling Tunnels To Israeli-Supplied Electricity Grid (Plus: Hamas Online Courses Teach Math, Genocidal Terrorism)
