Hamas unlikely to see much of promised aid
PARIS -- Hamas-ruled Gaza will likely see little of the unprecedented $7.4 billion in aid pledged to the Palestinians by the international community on Monday.
While donor countries say they won't ignore the growing suffering in that isolated territory, they don't seem eager to channel large sums there that could inadvertently help prolong Hamas rule.
The angry reaction by Hamas officials Monday indicated Gaza's cash-strapped rulers were rattled by the huge amounts promised their rival, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denounced the Paris conference as a "declaration of war" on Hamas, while Hamas government spokesman Taher Nunu accused the international community of trying to bribe Abbas into making concessions in negotiations with Israel.
Participants of the pledging conference avoided clear answers on what to do about Gaza, which has been cut off from the world since the violent Hamas takeover in June.
Most expressed concern about the humanitarian situation, which has deteriorated sharply since Israel and Egypt virtually halted access to Gaza after the Hamas takeover. As a result, tens of thousands of jobs were wiped out, and three-quarters of the 1.5 million Gazans live in poverty.
However, most speakers did not call for a lifting of the blockade of Gaza, even as they urged Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinian movement, presumably in the Abbas-controlled West Bank.
Without calling openly for regime change, Western leaders have suggested that once the residents of Gaza see the benefits of peace, they'd become increasingly disillusioned with Hamas.
"In the end, if we get a strong process moving forward, I believe that all the Palestinian people will want to participate in a process leading to their own state," international Mideast envoy Tony Blair said Monday, outlining his Gaza scenario.
Hamas has rejected repeated demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence in exchange for international acceptance.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad emphasized Monday that his three-year economic recovery plan, for which he received the aid, also includes Gaza. However, many of the development projects earmarked for Gaza would likely have to be put on hold until the blockade is lifted.
In the meantime, some donor money would reach Gaza through continued salary payments to some 50,000 Abbas-allied civil servants who have stayed at home since the takeover, rather than work for Hamas.
Also, the donors have been funding international aid agencies that try to alleviate suffering, including with food distributions.
Naji Shurrab, a political analyst in Gaza, said that "it's very clear that Gaza has been dropped from the (aid) plans, or at least has been postponed."
"This is a form of punishment for Hamas," he added.
Arab donor states, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have been urging Abbas to try to negotiate another power-sharing deal with Hamas.
But Abbas made clear Monday that he will not trade vague promises from Hamas for the massive international support he is enjoying now.
Using the high-profile stage in Paris, he dismissed Hamas leaders as "coup-seekers" and said he would not resume dialogue unless they handed back Gaza.
Persuading a hesitant Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank is another day-after challenge for the donors. The World Bank has said that even massive aid will not lead to Palestinian economic recovery unless Israel relaxes physical and administrative obstacles to travel and trade.
However, it remains unclear whether the international community is willing to exert pressure on Israel, even with such large sums at stake.
Blair, who has been shuttling between Israelis and Palestinians, is proposing a step-by-step approach. He is trying to get several "rapid impact" projects off the ground with Israeli cooperation, such as setting up an industrial park in the West Bank and repairing a Gaza sewage system. These projects would be a test of Israeli intentions.
Israel has signaled it wants to go slow. "In the end, it comes down to the details, checkpoint by checkpoint, step by step for a better future," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the donors.
However, back in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert quickly reassured his centrist Kadima Party that he would always put security first.
Politically weak ever since Israel's war in Lebanon last year, Olmert needs to court hardline support, both from security hawks within Kadima and from two right-wing coalition partners, to stay in power.
This alignment would make it difficult for him to ease Palestinian movement in a significant way, or to declare a settlement freeze, as he is obligated to do under the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.
Yet for Abbas, quick improvements on the ground are vital. The Palestinians are skeptical of the current peace efforts, and Abbas will have to show his people that moderation pays.
The unprecedented aid effort is also closely linked to renewed Israeli-Palestinian talks, which could quickly be sabotaged by the old spoilers of Mideast peacemaking that have wiped out trust in the past.
"One or two serious suicide bombings, and no Israeli prime minister will be able to sustain this process," said Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher.
The donors, meanwhile, appear to have learned from one past mistake -- giving money without checking how it is spent. Over the past decade, more than $10 billion were given, with little to show for it today.
Some of the projects funded by aid were destroyed by Israeli-Palestinian fighting, but large sums were also squandered under Abbas' predecessor, Yasser Arafat.
This time, the donors have built in tighter controls. While the donors were full of praise for Fayyad, a respected economist who helped clean up Arafat's financial mess, they have also asked the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to give them detailed reports every three months.
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Karin Laub, AP's chief Ramallah correspondent, has been covering Israel and the Palestinian territories since 1987. AP reporters Amy Teibel and Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report from Jerusalem and Gaza City.
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World rallies to aid Palestinian government with $7.4 billion
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By KARIN LAUB
Associated Press Writer
PARIS -- The world rallied to the support of the embattled Palestinian government Monday, pledging $7.4 billion in aid over the next three years at a donors' conference -- a sum that tops the Palestinians' own expectations.
"The real winner today is the Palestinian state," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a news conference after the gathering of nearly 90 countries and international organizations.
"We wanted $5.6 billion, we have $7.4 billion -- not bad," he said.
World leaders at the conference also urged Israel to ease restrictions on movement in the West Bank and Gaza to make a recovery of the Palestinian economy possible.
"Our feeling is great, this is generous. It is a vote of confidence for the program, and a sign of solidarity on the Palestinian question," Palestinian Planning Minister Samir Abdullah told The Associated Press.
He confirmed the overall figure and said the pledges include $2.9 billion for 2008.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged $555 million for 2008. However, the money includes about $400 million that the White House announced but has not been approved by Congress.
For renewed peace efforts to succeed, she said, "the continued and unwavering support of the international community is absolutely vital. That is why we are here today, and not a moment too soon."
Rice called the U.S. pledge "a significant increase" from earlier pledges.
"The Palestinian Authority is experiencing a serious budgetary crisis," Rice said. "This conference is literally the government's last hope to avoid bankruptcy."
Referring to renewed Middle East peace efforts stemming from the U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Md., last month, Rice said, "This is the most promising opportunity to seek peace that we have had in nearly seven years. And we need to seize it."
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the pledges amounted to "an endorsement."
He called it part of the process for "establishing an independent Palestine."
The sum raised Monday was substantial even compared to the more than $10 billion that donor countries have given to the Palestinians in the past decade, according to the World Bank. Officials have said the Palestinians have received more international aid on a per capita basis than any other nation or group of people in the postwar period.
From international Mideast envoy Tony Blair to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, participants called for urgent action, saying a new chance for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal must not be missed. Peace talks resumed last week after seven years of diplomatic deadlock, and international aid is seen as key to making the process work.
"We will not rest until we have that two-state solution a reality in this region of the world," Blair, a co-sponsor of the conference, told the conference.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the donors must "invest now, invest generously, and remain steadfast in their financial commitments over the next 36 months."
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the conference was "very constructive" and had "created a momentum to continue the good start we had in Annapolis."
The EU said it would give $650 million in 2008 and Norway pledged $140 million a year for three years. Britain, France and Germany announced a combined $1.08 billion for three years.
Western donors have urged Arab states to do more. Since 2002, Arab League members have been promising the Palestinians $55 million a month but have not always paid in full.
Two key issues dominated the conference: the need for Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinians while not compromising on its security, and the fate of Gaza, which has been virtually cut off from the world since the Islamic militant Hamas seized control by force in June.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the Paris conference "a declaration of war against the Hamas movement." Last weekend, Hamas leaders told tens of thousands of supporters at a rally that Hamas will not recognize Israel or renounce violence.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas used the high-profile platform to urge Israel to remove roadblocks quickly, stop building its separation barrier in the West Bank and to freeze settlement expansion, "without exceptions." The first round of peace talks had been overshadowed by Israel's decision to expand a Jewish neighborhood, built on war-won land on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Abbas said the Palestinians are committed to reform their government, restructure the security forces, and work hard to restore order in the often lawless Palestinian territories.
He had harsh words for Hamas, reiterating that he will not resume a dialogue with the militants unless they hand back control of Gaza to Abbas' security forces. He also warned that without continued international aid, Gaza is "heading into disaster."
About three-fourths of Gaza's 1.5 million residents live in poverty, and the blockade -- Israel and Egypt virtually closed borders after the Hamas takeover -- has wiped out tens of thousands of jobs.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called the Palestinian reform plan "a serious effort to build the basis for a responsible Palestinian state that the Palestinian people so deserve and that peace so needs."
Livni said Israel is committed to its road map obligations, "including in relation to settlement activities," but did not elaborate.
Arab League head Amr Moussa welcomed Livni's comments as "very significant." Moussa urged the donors to follow the situation concerning roadblocks and settlements closely.
Fayyad is trying to assure donor countries they are not expected to prop up the Palestinian government indefinitely. He has presented a three-year reform plan with promises to cut government spending by trimming a bloated public payroll and reducing hundreds of millions of dollars in utility bills.
Still, Fayyad wants 70 percent of the aid initially to go toward reducing his huge budget deficit, with the emphasis shifting only gradually to development projects.
Economists say it's not enough for the donors to pledge aid and for the Palestinians to carry out reforms. The Palestinian economy will only recover, according to the World Bank, if Israel eases sweeping physical and administrative restrictions on movement in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel has been reluctant to do so, putting security first.