The United States on Sunday promised $212 million in immediate assistance to the devastated Gaza , while also urging Palestinians and Israelis to resume peace talks.
People in Gaza, which borders Israel and Egypt, “need our help desperately — not tomorrow, not next week, but they need it now,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at an international donor conference.
He said more than 20,000 homes need to be rebuilt and 100,000 people remain displaced with winter fast approaching.
Gaza this summer endured a 50-day war, the third between ruling Hamas and Israel since 2008. The Palestinians are seeking $4 billion in total aid.
Kerry said the U.S. money, which takes American aid to the Palestinians to more than $400 million this year, would go to security, economic development, food and medicine, shelter and water and sanitation projects.
It was not immediately clear whether Kerry’s announcement would mean an overall increase in U.S. aid to the Palestinians or if his department was repackaging money already requested.
American assistance to the Palestinians has held steady at about $440 million for the past two years, the same amount the Obama administration requested from Congress for the 2015 budget year.
A State Department release said the $212 million would be delivered through the U.S. Agency for International Development, with half set aside for meeting Palestinian budgetary needs. About $75 million is devoted to Gaza recovery efforts.
Six months after the collapse of his Israeli-Palestinian mediation effort, the latest U.S. stab at forging a Mideast peace accord, Kerry renewed his call for a return to negotiations.
Kerry praised Egypt for organizing the conference, Israel for pledging to facilitate greater Palestinian economic opportunities and the U.N. for creating a monitoring system so that aid to Gaza isn’t plundered by the militant group Hamas or used to threaten the Jewish state’s security.
But Kerry said a lasting solution needs to be found and that the world doesn’t want to see a return every two years or so to a war in Gaza, a cease-fire and another expensive reconstruction effort.
“A cease-fire is not peace,” he said. “And we’ve got to find a way to get back to the table and help people make tough choices.”
(AP)
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7 Responses
Better than the $960B that that last Bush budget gave to the Palestinians.
Much better
Will the $212 million be used for rebuilding schools homes and hospitals or for MORE tunnels and military equipment to fight Israel?
Time to call Joe’s Cement Company again.
Great idea ! Now they can rebuild the 31 tunnels Israel destroyed.
bz,
first im assuming u meant millions not billions
second, this is a one time donation not a yearly budget
bz bz bz one day you will wake up and realize that as a socialist liberal democrat, you are nothing more than a שוטה אן שכל.
To Coffee addict:
RIGHT! MILLIONS, not Billions.
To “Mark Levin”
If he was a liberal socialist, he would be a failure.
Since OUR President was elected, and re-elected:
Corporate Profits UP 175%
S&P UP 145%
Crude Oil Production UP 70%
And the income gap between the rich and the poor is the biggest since the Great Depression.
Some socialist!
And, “Mark Levin”, please don’t call me names. If you resort to that technique, you lose. People has issues with OUR President, including me. But name calling doesn’t get any clarity (or resolution) about the real issues.