WASHINGTON, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - The multi-billion dollar efforts to rebuild Gaza after the 2014 summer war represent a boon to Israeli suppliers of cement and construction material, American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) organization director for the West Bank and Gaza Paul Butler said.
“[For] Israeli suppliers of cement and construction material, the aid business has been a boon to them in Gaza and the West Bank,” Butler said at the Middle East Institute on Tuesday.
Quantifying the scale of damage, inflicted on Gaza through the Israel-Hamas war, Butler said, “We’re talking about a multi-billion dollar reconstruction effort in Gaza that will take years and years.”
ANERA has been working on humanitarian aid and economic and reconstruction efforts in the Palestinian territories and Jordan since 1968. It’s mission is to aid in local communities’ self-sufficiency, helping with aid, water and sanitation, agriculture, and other economic projects.
The efforts to rebuild Gazan infrastructure, housing, and other facilities, following the most recent war, is estimated to cost approximately $4 billion. That figure was presented by the Palestinian Authority to the international community and international donors at a October 13 conference in Cairo.
