While we are aware of the human cost of the bombing, we do not know much about the material cost. Given the extent of destruction, it is certain that it will take some time to assess and quantify it. UN officials on the ground in Gaza have been working on damage assessment, but at the moment they only say that hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid will be needed immediately to help Gaza's 1.5 million people, and billions of dollars will be required to rebuild its shattered buildings and infrastructure.Indeed, billions of dollars will be required for the reconstruction of Gaza because the region looks like a disaster area, as if it had been struck by a massive earthquake. In fact, it was none other than the highest international official, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who visited Gaza City last Tuesday, who compared the area to a disaster zone. “I have seen only a fraction of the destruction,” he said at a news conference. “This is shocking and alarming.”
While the UN assessment has been going on, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics made its own assessment and announced last Monday that 4,100 homes were totally destroyed and that 20,000 others, lived in by 120,000 people, were severely damaged during the conflict. About 1,500 factories and workshops, 20 mosques, 31 security installations and 10 water and sewage mains were also damaged.
The bureau estimates that the overall physical damage has so far amounted to about $1.9 billion, including about $200 million of damage to infrastructure. Add to that the destroyed fields and olive groves and the rest, and the cost would be much higher than $2 billion.
So, given the fact that at least around $2 billion is required for the immediate reconstruction, the first question the international community must urgently face is that of who will provide this money. In this regard, Saudi Arabia has pledged $1 billion of aid, while others have kept mum so far.
The second question is, of course, is that of who will undertake the reconstruction: Hamas or the Palestinian Authority? Given the fact that the US, the European Union and others do not recognize Hamas as the legitimate governing authority in Gaza, there is little chance that any Western power will provide aid money for the reconstruction to Hamas.
As for Israel, which is the key power for any reconstruction effort simply because it controls the entry points into Gaza for any supplies, be it humanitarian aid or building materials, there is not much to say, for its position is very well known, that is to say, it opposes any role that Hamas would play in the reconstruction process.
In fact, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made this point recently when he met with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and told him that Israel would participate in reconstruction in Gaza only if Hamas did not lead the process.
“Reconstruction must be led by international organizations in cooperation with the United Nations, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
As for the expected Arab stance and effort, we have only to look at the result of the recent Arab summit held in Kuwait this week, where the Arab heads of state failed to do much more than produce a vaguely word condemnation of what it called Israel's “barbaric aggression” and call for an investigation into war crimes. While calling for the reconstruction of Gaza, the group failed to explain how it would carry it out or how much it was committing to raising funds for the reconstruction.
The third question is, of course, when the reconstruction would start and finish. Again, like the first two questions, we do not have a clear answer to this.
It took 22 days of bombing to destroy Gaza. How long it will take to reconstruct it and by whom, nobody knows. Isn't this sad and telling for all of us?
Benzer Haberler 
