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<h1 id="reader-title">Why has UN rebuilt just one house in Gaza?</h1>
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<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label
skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ali Abunimah</a></span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime"
content="2015-11-29T22:59:27+00:00"><br>
29 November 2015</span></span> </p>
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<p>In the whole period since Israel’s <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/balance-un-gaza-report-cant-hide-massive-israeli-war-crimes">lethal
and devastating</a> summer 2014 attack on Gaza, the
United Nations has provided assistance to just one
family to rebuild its totally destroyed home.</p>
<p>“I held the new keys in my hand; at that moment, I felt
relieved and happy, and I wanted to give the keys to my
wife and show her the house and everything in it,” Atef
al-Zaza <a
href="http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/features/%E2%80%9Cafter-70-days-i-held-new-keys-my-hands%E2%80%9D">said</a>
as he took possession of the home he will share with his
spouse Fatima and their 12 children in eastern Gaza
City, last October.</p>
<p>It replaces the home the al-Zaza family lost in July
2014, during Israel’s bombardment. </p>
<p><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/pierre-krahenbuhl">Pierre
Krähenbühl</a>, the head of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/unrwa">UNRWA</a>,
the UN agency for Palestine refugees, <a
href="https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/47d4e277b48d9d3685256ddc00612265/5e126bb77cf0af8985257f03004e299d?OpenDocument">confirmed
the stunning fact</a> earlier this month that this
remains the only totally destroyed house the UN has
helped to rebuild.</p>
<p>He also revealed that as of 18 November, his agency’s
engineers had confirmed that 9,117 homes in Gaza were
totally demolished, a similar number suffered severe or
major damage and another 123,000 suffered minor damage.</p>
<p>In July, the UN children’s agency UNICEF published this
video highlighting the situation of some of the
thousands of Gaza children still living in rubble:
</p>
<p>UNRWA has given money to about half the households
needing minor repairs and to just over 1,000 families
for repair of severe or major damage.</p>
<p>But why are none of the totally destroyed homes being
rebuilt?</p>
<p>Palestinian groups say a key reason is UN complicity in
the so-called <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-reconstruction-mechanism">Gaza
Reconstruction Mechanism</a>.</p>
<h2>End the secrecy</h2>
<p>Last week, 28 Palestinian civil society organizations
wrote to <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/nickolay-mladenov">Nickolay Mladenov</a>,
the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace
process, to express concern over the glacial pace of
reconstruction.</p>
<p>They are urging the UN to end the secrecy around the
Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism.</p>
<p>“Since its creation in September 2014, the agreement
has not been publicized and Palestinians have been left
without details or timelines, which in fact conflicts
with the principles of transparency and accountability
as well as fundamental human rights and humanitarian
principles,” the letter, a copy of which was sent to The
Electronic Intifada, states.</p>
<p>The Palestinian groups – which include <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/maan-development-center-0">Ma’an
Development Center</a>, the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-community-mental-health-programme">Gaza
Community Mental Health Programme</a>, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/badil">Badil</a>
and the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/union-agricultural-work-committees">Union
of Agricultural Work Committees</a> – also launched an
<a
href="https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/UN_Special_Coordinator_for_the_Middle_East_Peace_Process_and_PA_President_No_to_Gaza_Reconstruction_Mechanism_GRM/">online
petition</a> to press the UN to break the logjam. It
has almost 1,000 signatures.</p>
<p>As The Electronic Intifada <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/under-cover-reconstruction-un-and-pa-become-enforcers-israels-gaza-siege">revealed
in October 2014</a>, the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism
involves a complicated system of surveillance and
Israeli pre-approval that gives the occupation
authorities even more intrusive control over the
devastated lives of Palestinians in Gaza.</p>
<p>As part of the system, both the UN and the Palestinian
Authority collect detailed information on Palestinian
families that is then passed on to Israel.</p>
<p>“So rather than ease and eventually end the siege, the
[Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism] entrenches and
institutionalizes the blockade and perpetuates the
status quo by reinforcing Israel’s control over the Gaza
Strip,” the 28 groups say in their letter.</p>
<p>In August, the Israeli group <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gisha">Gisha</a>,
which monitors Israel’s siege of Gaza, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-has-there-been-almost-no-reconstruction-gaza">published
a report</a> illustrating the ways the Gaza
Reconstruction Mechanism and its onerous procedures,
combined with Israel’s ongoing siege, prevents
reconstruction.</p>
<p>Due to the devastation to Gaza’s economy, those lucky
enough to obtain building supplies such as cement
through the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism often sell
them on the black market merely to make ends meet.</p>
<p>One major obstacle is that Israel bans or severely
restricts so-called “dual use” construction materials
which Israel says can be used for military purposes,
such as building tunnels, as well as for civilian needs.</p>
<h2>Broken promises</h2>
<p>But another level of international neglect and
complicity is also responsible for the fact that so much
of Gaza remains in ruins.</p>
<p>UNRWA head Krähenbühl also revealed that more than
47,000 refugee families have received permission to
repair their homes through the Gaza Reconstruction
Mechanism.</p>
<p>But none has received a single dollar “due to lack of
sufficient funding.” Another 7,200 families who have
received permission to rebuild totally destroyed homes
are in the same boat.</p>
<p>Last month, The Electronic Intifada <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-aid-pledges-fail-materialize/14961">profiled</a>
one family, that of Ahmad al-Hamayda, his six siblings
and their elderly parents, who are in this situation.</p>
<p>In October 2014, international donors <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/who-benefits-billions-pledged-gaza-reconstruction">pledged
$5.4 billion</a> dollars to rebuild Gaza.</p>
<p>The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah announced it
would siphon off about half that money for its own use.</p>
<p>But a year later, only a third of the funds pledged for
Gaza had actually been paid.</p>
<p>UNRWA <a
href="https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/47d4e277b48d9d3685256ddc00612265/5e126bb77cf0af8985257f03004e299d?OpenDocument">says</a>
that just $247 million has been pledged for its
emergency shelter program, leaving a shortfall of almost
half a billion dollars.</p>
<h2>Hold Israel accountable</h2>
<p>In his most recent briefing to the UN Security Council
on 19 November, UN special representative Mladenov only
briefly mentioned Gaza.</p>
<p>The Bulgarian diplomat did try to put a positive gloss
on the utter failure of the Gaza Reconstruction
Mechanism, including lauding unspecified bureaucratic
changes.</p>
<p>He welcomed Israel’s removal of aggregate – gravel and
sand used in construction – from the list of dual-use
items.</p>
<p>But what Israel gives with one hand, it takes away with
the other.</p>
<p>“The good news, however, has been tempered by the
addition of other items, including timber, to the list
this year,” Mladenov admitted.</p>
<p>Officially, Israel doesn’t allow in wood planks more
than a centimeter thick. But <a
href="http://gisha.org/en-blog/2015/11/05/wood-is-also-essential-for-reconstruction/">according
to Gisha</a>, it all but bars any import of wood into
Gaza. “These additions hinder Gaza’s reconstruction, and
I call on the Israeli authorities to reconsider their
decisions,” Mladenov said.</p>
<p>But there’s absolutely no reason to expect such
mild-mannered pleas to change Israel’s behavior.</p>
<p>That’s why the 28 groups that wrote to Mladenov last
week want a totally different approach.</p>
<p>“We call upon the UN to rethink its strategy from one
of working around the blockade to one which holds Israel
accountable for the crisis in Gaza and pressures it to
immediately and completely lift the blockade,” they say.</p>
<p>Their first demand is for the UN to publish the secret
agreement with Israel governing the Gaza Reconstruction
Mechanism.</p>
<p>After all, if the system is as effective and benign as
UN bureacrats claim, what do they have to hide?</p>
<br>
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