Nearly seven months after the end of the latest war in Gaza, none of the underlying causes of the conflict have been addressed. In the meantime, the people of Gaza are experiencing unprecedented levels of deprivation, and the prospect for renewed armed conflict is very real.

The shortage of funds is the most immediate problem, but it is not the only one: Israel has restricted access to Gaza, with three of four commercial crossing points closed. There is not enough money to buy building materials or support needy families. The Shelter Cluster, which coordinates housing construction between the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, estimates that Gaza needs at least 16,000 new units to replace homes destroyed or rendered uninhabitable during the war. In January, 16 truckloads of construction material were permitted into Gaza per day, compared with a need for 735 loads daily for three years to build the necessary homes. These numbers do not account for the additional 5,000 homes that still need to be rebuilt from previous wars or another 80,000 homes necessary to accommodate population growth.

The international community, including the Obama administration, should be given credit for recognizing the need to unify the Palestinian political system in order to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and stabilize the security situation. However, this consensus must now be backed by sustained pressure to implement reconciliation agreements between Fatah and Hamas and to end Israel’s closure of Gaza. It is incumbent on the world to engage at the highest levels with the Palestinians, Egypt and Israel to push this process forward.

If there is no reconciliation, the international community must be willing to promote new arrangements for rebuilding Gaza and ending its isolation. Donors will have to coordinate directly with local and international NGOs, as well as the de facto Hamas authorities, while continuing to urge that the current Palestinian government of national consensus deploy in Gaza.

In addition, Western governments should push Israel to drop its insistence on tracking every bag of cement. The evidence suggests that such fine-grained monitoring may be impossible, but tunneling can be prevented with a supervised peace agreement. Further, by insisting on such oversight, Israel may be compromising its security in the short term, given the misery and volatility in Gaza. Instead, Israel should align the import-export regime for Gaza with that of the West Bank, and Gaza crossing points should be reopened. More generally, Israel should integrate the economy of Gaza with that of the West Bank to allow for more normal development.

maggie111
11:23 AM EDT

No one should have a voice in this discussion who has not been to Gaza, who has not seen the heartless deprivation, the rubble that is the home of Gazans. Go there and wait until Israel rains down their killer missiles and bombs, the burning white phosphorus and the amputation machines called flechettes. Go see the sewage the settlers stream down the hillsides into the Palestinian village streets. Go watch the Palestinian children be accosted and brutalized by grown men from the settler encampments. You haven't a clue what you are talking about it you haven't seen it and lived it. Israel is a war criminal, a despicable sludge of humanity. Go see for yourself. Stop sitting here pontificating about what you know nothing of. Hasbara is all you have to offer. Come with me on my next medical mission and live the life for a short while. Watch the IDF bully and beat the hapless Palestinians. Watch them spit in the peanut butter jars being brought into Gaza to feed the children. Go see for yourself. You senseless propagandist sicken me. Israel bombs hospitals and UN schools and even institutions for the mentally and physically handicapped. Come see it. I dare you.

Hellsangel wrote:Yeah. Let's open the floodgates for suicide bombers.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Hellsangel wrote:Yeah. Let's open the floodgates for suicide bombers.

it's open right now for the genocide bombers.