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Israel must play a crucial role in the reconstruction of Gaza, a top US official said, ahead of a donor conference in Cairo. The US also pressed for all sides involved to agree on permanent peace.
US Secretary of State John Kerry will be among those attending the reconstruction conference being co-hosted by Norway and Egypt on Sunday, billed by the US as a “major humanitarian assistance and reconstruction effort” after the 50-day war between Hamas and Israel devastated the Gaza Strip. Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed during Operation Protective Edge in the impoverished enclave. The aggression ended in August with temporary peace, followed by indirect negotiations for permanent truce due to resume later this month.
The Palestinian government has revealed a 76-page document for the reconstruction of Gaza, asking for $4 billion to rebuild the territory, with the largest portion of money dedicated to building houses for the 100,000 people displaced.
Washington has pledged around $118 million to help Palestinians in Gaza, with US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying that she expected “there are a range of countries in the international community who are going to be contributing” funds at Cairo.
“We do think that Israel will need to play a role in Gaza reconstruction”, she stressed when questioned about Israel’s responsibility to repair the damage in Gaza.
“We were pleased to see that the U.N., Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed on procedures aimed at expediting the passage of relief materials into Gaza, while taking into account Israel’s security needs”, Psaki said.
She did not say if US aid should be conditional on guarantees of permanent peace to ensure that the money is not wasted on future fighting.
“Ideally we’d like to see an agreement on a way forward for a sustainable ceasefire that addresses the long-term issues so we don’t have the recurring conflict”, she said.
Psaki added that Kerry will likely speak about the issue on the sidelines in Cairo, “but it’s not the primary focus. They’ll have to reconvene the parties to have that discussion separately from this conference”.