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Hamas and the Palestinian Authority presented competing plans Wednesday for rebuilding Gaza, each seeking roughly $2.8 billion in foreign aid.The PA, led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, believe they can raise the full amount at an international pledging conference for Gaza in the Egyptian resort of Sharm e-Sheikh next week. Saudi Arabia has already promised $1 billion and the US is expected to contribute about $900 million.However, Gaza would need open borders and an internationally accepted government for reconstruction to move forward smoothly. At the moment, it has neither.Hamas is widely shunned as a terrorist organization, and Israel and Egypt have kept Gaza cut off from the world since the group seized the territory in June 2007, leaving Abbas only in control of the West Bank.In one scenario, Hamas and Abbas would reconcile, form a joint government and bring about an end to the blockade. Representatives of Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement launched a new round of reconciliation talks Tuesday, but chances for success are seen as slim because of deep distrust between the two sides.In the absence of a unity deal, the rival governments moved ahead with separate plans for rebuilding Gaza, following Israel's three-week military offensive, launched to halt Hamas rocket fire on Israeli border towns.Initial estimates put physical and economic damage at about $2 billion.In the West Bank, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad said Wednesday he would ask donor countries for $2.8 billion for Gaza, citing a more thorough assessment. He said he has put together a reconstruction plan and will present it to representatives of 80 donor countries Monday in Sharm e-Sheikh."From positive talks with the donors, I expect the donations to exceed the required figures," he said, but declined to give details of specific items. He has said in the past he would seek hundreds of millions of dollars alone for rebuilding homes.A previous pledging conference in 2007 raised $7.7 billion for Fayad's government through 2010.Among those planning to attend the Sharm e-Sheikh conference are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.Hamas is not invited, and the international community is unlikely to send huge sums directly to Hamas. Still, the group on Wednesday completed its own 86-page reconstruction plan, seeking a total of $2.73 billion in foreign aid. Planning Minister Mohammed Awad of Hamas said the document would be sent to the Arab League and other potential donors, including international aid agencies.Among other things, Hamas seeks to import 1,000 trailers as emergency housing, for a total cost of $19.5 million. It requests $3.7 million for buying heavy machinery for removing 1.5 million tons of rubble.The plan also earmarks $16.5 million for recycling rubble, such as using broken concrete slabs to fortify Gaza City's fishermen's harbor. Hamas seeks $23 million for rebuilding parliament and another $12.8 million for a new government compound. It would cost $37 million to build new security installations, such as police stations and Interior Ministry buildings, according to the plan.The authors add the caveat that all timetables in the plan, such as 24 months for rebuilding the security compounds, are "based on opening the borders."John Ging, the top UN aid official, urged donor countries to push for open borders, saying anything less would only worsen Gaza's dire situation. Even before the war, the border closure wiped out private industry in Gaza and some three-quarters of 1.4 million Gazans depended on some aid handouts."The humanitarian problem here is huge and day by day it's getting worse and worse, because there is no solution until the crossing points open," Ging said. "The solution here is simple, but it's not happening."By AP GAZA CITY
As in the days of Noah...
