Brussels, 30/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - In the near future, the European Commission should submit to the Council and Parliament for approval the granting of €14.5 million in aid for the rehabilitation of Gaza after the Israeli invasion of December 2008/early 2009. Out of this total amount, €13 million will be for rehabilitation of public facilities (social services and local facilities such as water supply, sewers, etc.). €850,000 will be for re-opening of the Rafah border crossing (so that it is not just “intermittent”), and €500,000 will be for removal of unexploded ordnance and cluster bombs left behind by the Israeli army. The rest of the money will be for managing the programme as a whole.
Such aid will be considered “exceptional”, not only due to the magnitude of the task but also because it does not fit into the traditional scheme of emergency and humanitarian aid programmes for which selection criteria are governed by the budget and budgetary constraints. In the case of Palestine, it seemed more appropriate to place this “exceptional aid”, intended to rehabilitate the economic and social infrastructure and restore stability, within the framework of the “stability instrument”, the creation of which was decided by the EU Council on 15 November 2006. Whatever budgetary procedure is finally adopted, the European Commission believes this is a matter of great urgency which goes hand in hand with a political concern for re-launching peace talks - a concern shared by the whole of the Union, institutions and member states, which intend to restore relative stability in the territory of Gaza and restore the presence of the Palestinian Authority there.
The Commission therefore envisages developing its programme over 18 months. When it comes to living conditions, it hopes to make up the huge delay incurred by Gaza in just five weeks after the Israeli intervention that devastated the whole infrastructure of this portion of Palestinian territory. In addition to human casualties (according to the Commission services on the basis of an inquiry with Palestinian and international social and medical services on the spot, 1,300 Palestinians were killed including 410 children, in addition to thousands of wounded including 1,855 children). The report now in the hands of the Commission notes that nearly 50,000 people have had to seek refuge mainly on UNRWA premises. The Israeli military operation “Cast Lead”, launched on 27 December 2008, has wrought unprecedented devastation. Following the collapse of the private sector, unemployment rates rose to unprecedented levels, entailing a paralysis of economic, public and private activity. This has meant that poverty and destitution have increased with a dependence on aid for basic needs such as food and drinking water - problems that the Commission considers should be tackled as a priority. (F.B./transl.jl)