What Gaza needs

I first visited Gaza in 2003, which was only 10 years after the Oslo Accord. The late Ariel Sharon was either about to, or had newly announced his plans for Israel's disengagement from Gaza. It took him a while to convince everybody to take Israeli settlements out of Gaza. Disengagement started in 2005. 

In 2003, the Oslo Accord was still alive and kicking. Mahmoud Abbas was only 68 years old. There was still hope in the air. Those days are long gone, and hope has given way to despair and vexation. I found myself thinking about those good old days when reading the new World Bank report on Gaza's reconstruction. 

The report notes that only 40 percent of the amount pledged for Gaza in 2014 has been spent so far. Keep in mind that there are still 14,800 families who have been displaced. It has been 2 years since the Israeli military operation devastated Gaza, and the Cairo Conference pledged $5 billion to repair the strip. The reconstruction process has yet to be completed. 

I was again in Gaza a month ago this year. Let me tell you what I saw. Around $1.5 billion spent so far, yet no visible change. Why not? Is the Israeli blockade the only stumbling block? Yes and no.

Let me first note the meaning of the World Bank report. The Economic Monitoring Report was prepared to the Ad Hoc Liason Committee (AHLC), a 15-member body that serves as the principal policy-level coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinian people. The AHLC is leading the Gaza reconstruction efforts. On behalf of the Committee, the World Bank is leading a stock-taking exercise to overview the disbursement and implementation progress of support to Gaza pledged at the Cairo Conference in 2014. 

Gaza has three border crossing points:...