Donors meet in Cairo for Gaza aid conference

Global envoys gathered in Cairo Sunday in a bid to raise billions for the devastated Gaza Strip and to renew calls for Israel and the Palestinians to revive stalled peace efforts.
Top diplomats including US Secretary of State John Kerry had arrived in the Egyptian capital for the conference bringing together 30 nations and UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
Kerry will lend US backing to efforts to raise up to $4 billion (3.2 billion euros) to assist Gaza after the enclave was battered by its 50-day conflict with Israel in July and August.
Some diplomats will also press Israel and the Palestinians to go back to the negotiating table, amid widespread concern that any aid to Gaza will eventually be lost in the enclave's cycle of violence.
Opening the conference, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi put the onus on Israel to end its decades-old conflict with the Palestinians.
"I call on the Israeli people and the government: now is the time to end the conflict... so that prosperity prevails, so that we all can have peace and security," Sisi said in his opening remarks.
The Palestinian government unveiled a 76-page reconstruction plan ahead of the conference, calling for $4 billion in aid, with the lion's share to build housing.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas told the conference the enclave's need was desperate.
"Gaza has suffered three wars in six years. Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed... There is a tangible need for funds to bring back government institutions, because they have all been destroyed," Abbas said.
Kerry was to address the conference later and meet Abbas to press for renewed negotiations with Israel.
- 'Considerable donor fatigue' -
"I think it's very fair to say that there are serious questions being raised by a lot of the donors about... how best to break this cycle" of violence, a senior State Department official told reporters before Kerry left Washington.
There has to be reflection about "how best to ensure that we're not going to find ourselves back here doing the same thing again in a year or two".
This summer's conflict killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, while attacks by Gaza militants killed 73 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
It also left the densely populated enclave in ruins, displacing more than a quarter of Gaza's population of 1.7 million and leaving 100,000 people homeless.
It is unclear how generous donors will be, given the intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other priorities in the region, such as the fight against Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
Diplomats say there also is resistance to providing funds that may eventually go to waste.
"We have seen infrastructure projects that we have contributed to which have been destroyed," one Western diplomat in Jerusalem said, adding that there was "considerable donor fatigue".
Kerry's dogged pursuit of a long-elusive peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in acrimony in April after a difficult nine-month process, and there is little prospect of fresh talks any time soon.
Israel and the Hamas militants who dominate Gaza have yet to even translate their temporary August truce into a long-term ceasefire.
The top US diplomat would "talk about the things that we need to do to chart a different course for the future of Gaza, which includes trying to change the fundamental dynamic there," the State Department official said.
In his meeting with Abbas, Kerry is expected to dissuade him from seeking further recognition of the Palestinians at the United Nations, including joining the International Criminal Court.
Some estimates suggest that up to $8 billion will be needed to repair damaged infrastructure and homes, and ensure health care, education and clean drinking water in Gaza.
Washington has already committed some $118 million, but has not made any pledges of new funds beyond that. European and Gulf nations are expected to make significant pledges, however.
Internal divisions among the Palestinians are also a matter of widespread concern and they have strived to present a united front in advance of the Cairo donors' conference.
On Thursday, a new unity government held its first cabinet meeting in Gaza, months after a reconciliation deal between rivals Fatah, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, which is in de facto control of Gaza.
Source: AFP