Mar 13/2015

Israel is the Only One Reconstructing Gaza

Last week top Israeli diplomats from the Foreign Ministry of Israel and top European diplomats from Germany, France, Britain, Spain and Italy met in Jerusalem. The Europeans went out of their way to praise Israel for their reconstruction efforts in Gaza. They praised Israel for both its robust cooperation with the UN Operated reconstruction mechanism and for its decision to more than double the water supplies to the Gaza Strip.

This exchange reveals a story fraught with a great deal of hypocrisy and one little known secret – to date, the only country in the entire world that is actively engaged, day in and day out, in the reconstruction of Gaza - is Israel.

None of the Arab states, who pledged generous sums of money towards Gaza’s reconstruction, have made an actual down payment. International donor countries have been hesitant to contribute into an area controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization. Furthermore Fatah views Hamas as a nemesis, and therefore has refrained from exercising its responsibilities, and Egypt has all but sealed its border crossing with Gaza and has destroyed the vast majority of smuggling tunnels that led from the Sinai into Gaza.

The only operating border crossing that delivers goods to Gaza 24/7, and given the above described reality -  in much larger volumes than ever before – is the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.

The reason why Israel hasn’t followed suit with the rest of the world, and either closed its borders or its wallet is because, unlike Hamas, it cares about the welfare and wellbeing of the residents of Gaza. Unlike Hamas, Israel does not want the residents of Gaza to suffer.

Those who claim that Israel is the main obstacle to Gaza reconstruction are, therefore, either completely blind to the facts on the ground or are hypocritical. Despite valid concerns that construction material aimed at benefitting the Gaza population will be diverted for terrorist purposes, as it has been in the past, Israel is still committed to and supportive of reconstruction in Gaza, and is actively working towards that aim.

Shabbat Shalom,

  

Yaron Sideman
Consul General Of Israel,
Mid-Atlantic Region