AS the Israelis withdrew from Gaza after their “campaign” there just before the inauguration of Barack Obama in the US, countries around the world loudly pledged a total of $5 billion for the reconstruction of the heavily damaged piece of land. Until today, none of that money or the supplies that it was supposed to have been spent on has reached the strip. Although Israel is slowly easing its restrictions on the flow of basic humanitarian goods to Gaza, including food and medicine, construction materials remain prohibited from entering institutions and homes still lie in rubble, and critically needed projects to repair and upgrade Gaza's power plant and tottering sewage network lie dormant. William Corcoran, the president of the American Near East Refugee Aid agency, has said that it is “dumb luck” that a cholera epidemic has not broken out but things are at the stage “where that can happen at any moment.” There are two major strangleholds on the progress of aid reaching those it is intended to help. Israel's siege of Gaza must be lifted. That is first and foremost. Just as importantly, however, Palestinians themselves must reconcile so as to be able to establish a safe and secure distribution system that will defeat the corruption that so often hampers efficiency. Many international agencies cannot deal with Hamas and international funding, under the current prescription, cannot end up in the hands of Hamas. Consequently, international aid efforts are being funneled through the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas. A senior aid to Abbas said yesterday that there will be no reconstruction of the Gaza Strip until there is a unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas. When Ariel Sharon forced Israeli settlers out of the Gaza Strip and turned it over to the Palestinians, it was couched in humanitarian terms. It was supposedly a concession. As time passes, however, it becomes clear that there were no concessions and nothing humanitarian about it. Gaza is in worse shape than the West Bank. __
