The international community pledged 5.4 billion euros for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip at a donors’ conference on Sunday [October 12]. Palestine’s most important supporters so far, the US and the EU, plan to contribute 170 million and 450 million euros respectively. This shows how important the contribution of other Arab states is.
In this way [the Palestinians] were hoping the rich Gulf Arabs would close the gap between Western donations and Palestine’s objectives. Qatar has pledged a billion US dollars – a clear sign that the Gulf state sees this conflict as an opportunity to raise its profile in the region. Other emirates were more restrained – the IS threat and other Islamists have reduced the importance of the conflict with Israel….
And the most important question remains open: will the Arabs keep their word this time, or will they leave the Palestinians in the lurch once again? The figures from Cairo offer an objective benchmark for answering this question.
Source: Die Welt, October 13
Eric Koch’s new book, New Beginnings, was launched on September 20. The book is available from 
Hamas provokes its’ own destruction, then pleads for sympathy. An apt comparison to the definition of Chutzpah, in which the defendant, after killing his parents pleads mercy on the grounds that he’s an orphan. It works time after time.