Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
Mountains of rubble to be moved
Before anything can be rebuilt, the rubble must be removed — a staggering task in itself.
The U.N. estimates that the war has littered Gaza with over 50 million tons of rubble — roughly 12 times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. With over 100 trucks working full time, it would take over 15 years to clear the rubble away, and there is little open space in the narrow coastal territory that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
Carting the debris away will also be complicated by the fact that it contains huge amounts of unexploded ordnance and other harmful materials, as well as human remains. Gaza’s Health Ministry says thousands of people killed in airstrikes are still buried under the rubble.
No plan for the day after
The rubble clearance and eventual rebuilding of homes will require billions of dollars and the ability to bring construction materials and heavy equipment into the territory — neither of which are assured.
The ceasefire agreement calls for a 3-5 year reconstruction project to begin in its final phase, after all the remaining 100 hostages have been released and Israeli troops have withdrawn from the territory.
But getting to that point will require agreement on the second and most difficult phase of the agreement, which still must be negotiated. And even the first phase was in doubt on Thursday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying a last-minute dispute with Hamas was holding up Israeli approval.
Even then, the ability to rebuild will depend on the blockade, which critics have long decried as a form of collective punishment. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities, noting that cement and metal pipes can also be used for tunnels and rockets.
Israel might be more inclined to lift the blockade if Hamas were no longer in power, but there are no plans for an alternative government.
The United States and much of the international community want a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern the West Bank and Gaza with the support of Arab countries ahead of eventual statehood. But that’s a nonstarter for Israel’s government, which is opposed to a Palestinian state and has ruled out any role in Gaza for the Western-backed authority.
International donors are unlikely to invest in an ungoverned territory that has seen five wars in less than two decades, which means the sprawling tent camps along the coast could become a permanent feature of life in Gaza.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
