Return to Gaza: a new approach to reconstruction
The initial momentum of Gaza's reconstruction after last summer's devastating war has gradually stalled: Gaza received only a fraction of the funds promised at the October donors' conference, and thousands of Palestinians remain without shelter. What lies behind this?
- Author
- Omar Shaban Ismail
- Date
- 2015-01-21
The initial momentum for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after the destructive war between Israel and the Hamas movement last summer has gradually stopped. Gaza has obtained only a small proportion of the money it was promised at the donors' conference held in October. Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip remain without shelter. What, then, are the factors that stood behind these failures in Gaza's reconstruction? And how can the Palestinian leadership and the international community avoid the mistakes of the past?
In this policy brief, under the title “Back to Gaza: a new approach to reconstruction”, Sultan Barakat and Omar Shaban drew on their wide experience in the field of post-war reconstruction to provide policy advice on how to take up the arduous task represented in reconstructing the stricken Gaza Strip. The two authors present the broad lines of a reconstruction strategy that seeks to involve and empower the relevant stakeholders in Gaza, while improving transparency with the goal of guaranteeing accountability to the Palestinian people.
In the end, the two authors proposed establishing a Gaza Strip reconstruction council to supervise the reconstruction process, this council to include representatives of the Palestinian factions, civil society, the international agencies, and the principal regional states. In addition to that, this council's task will be supervising a trust fund to receive and manage the donors' money — thereby breaking the cycle of foreign money that has not contributed effectively to Gaza's reconstruction.