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Source: http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/isr1.php
International Aid for Gaza: Repeating the Failure of 2005?
[bitterlemons.org] Yossi Alpher - The effort to galvanize financial aid to Gaza without compromising Washington's refusal to deal with Hamas has little chance of succeeding. Plenty of new aid money was pledged to Gaza reconstruction at the Sharm al-Sheikh conference, but it will be forthcoming only if Hamas can be induced to enter a new unity government based on its acceptance of the three Quartet conditions concerning recognition of Israel's right to exist, renunciation of violence, and acceptance of past agreements. The $4.4 billion pledged at Sharm al-Sheikh is reminiscent of the $3 billion that Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn recruited for Gaza in the summer of 2005, when Israel withdrew both its settlements and its army from Gaza. That money had far fewer strings attached to it: all the PA had to do was administer Gaza in a reasonable manner. But it failed. That means it is extremely problematic to base American hopes and intentions on repeat exercises like donors' conferences and unity governments that proved abortive in the past.