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Funding gap stalls rebuilding
Donald Trump’s Gaza reconstruction effort is running into a cash crunch as his “Board of Peace” warned that “the gap between commitment (to the Board of Peace) and disbursement must be closed with urgency,” according to a 15th May report to the United Nations Security Council viewed by Reuters.
“the gap between commitment (to the Board of Peace) and disbursement must be closed with urgency”
The board said the pledged amount remained $US17 billion while it described the difference between pledges and actual delivery as “Funds committed but not yet disbursed represent the difference between a framework that exists on paper and one that delivers on the ground for the people of Gaza.”
Al Jazeera reported that the board was founded by Trump in January to oversee administration and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and that it is facing a “crippling cash crunch” that threatens to derail its ambitious $70bn reconstruction plan.
Al Jazeera also quoted Moath al-Amoudi, an expert in international aid to Palestinians, saying, “Out of the $17bn pledged, the actual liquidity that has reached the ground is zero,” and linking donor reluctance to the board’s structure and political conditions.
The board’s funding crisis is tied to a three-phased US plan that demands “the full disarmament of Hamas and all allied Palestinian factions” as a prerequisite for reconstruction funds and the opening of border crossings, while Israel has continued to violate the terms of an October “ceasefire,” Al Jazeera said.
Competing blame and oversight
Haaretz reported that in a semi-annual report submitted late last week to the UN Security Council and obtained by Haaretz, the Board of Peace said it “has not received part of the funding promised to it upon its establishment in February from a number of countries, primarily the United States and Gulf states.”
Israel Hayom, citing data gathered by the board, said the Board of Peace report places “the blame for blocking the Gaza Strip's reconstruction on Hamas,” and it quoted the report saying, “The main obstacle to full implementation of the agreement is Hamas' refusal to disarm.”
Al Jazeera framed the funding shortfall as more than administrative, with Moath al-Amoudi telling Al Jazeera that the heavily publicised pledges are closer to a “talk show” than a genuine humanitarian effort.
Al Jazeera also quoted al-Amoudi describing the board’s pay-for-influence clause as “commercial guardianship” and “unethical extortion,” arguing that donors are being pulled into “the illusion of development” for a project unwanted by Palestinians and the international community.
The board’s charter limits member states to three-year terms unless they pay $US1 billion each to fund the board’s activities and earn permanent membership, while Reuters reported in April that the board had received only a small fraction of the $US17 billion pledged, Sight Magazine said.
Reconstruction stakes and next steps
The Board of Peace report to the UN Security Council warned that Gaza’s reconstruction depends on closing the pledges-to-disbursement gap quickly, while it said the board did not disclose how much money it had received or how big the gap was beyond reiterating that the amount pledged remained $US17 billion.
“85 per cent of Gaza buildings and infrastructure had been destroyed”
Sight Magazine reported that the board said 85 per cent of Gaza buildings and infrastructure had been destroyed and that an estimated 70 million tonnes of rubble would need to be cleared, while Reuters reported on 15th May that the US was considering asking Israel to give some tax money it is withholding from the Palestinian Authority to the Board of Peace to fund reconstruction.
SANA said the Peace Council, chaired by Trump, warned of a widening gap between financial commitments and funds actually disbursed and urged faster funding to avoid a financial crisis that could impede implementation, adding that total commitments remain at $17 billion.
In the same Reuters-linked framing, Al Jazeera said the three-phased US plan explicitly demands disarmament as a prerequisite for reconstruction funds and the opening of border crossings, while Israel’s continued settlement expansion threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.
As the board’s envoy Nickolay Mladenov was expected to update the Security Council on 21st May, the board also called on countries and organisations not part of the Board of Peace to make contributions to Gaza’s reconstruction without delay, Sight Magazine reported.
