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The Gaza Aid Conference Was a Charade
(GlobalPost) Laura Dean - At the Gaza reconstruction conference in Cairo, Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende announced that the nations of the world had raised $5.4 billion to rebuild the Strip. But a closer look at the numbers shows some creative accounting was used. For starters, much of the $5.4 billion was not actually earmarked for Gaza reconstruction. Many countries included in their contributions money they had already allotted to Palestine, including the West Bank, since the beginning of the year under normal aid programming. In other words, a good amount of the aid is not new money, but represented a re-announcement of money that's already been given. Moreover, it seems to be common practice for states to renege on their commitments.