International donors have pledged $3bn to help rebuild Gaza Strip and invigorate the Palestinian economy after Israel's 22-day war on the territory. The donations, agreed at a conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, are to be channelled through the Palestinian Authority (PA) and not Hamas, the ruler of the enclave.
The United States, represented at the conference by secretary of state Hillary Clinton, pledged $900m. The European Commission said it will donate $554m for the reconstruction of Gaza and changes to the PA of Mahmoud Abbas.
Saudi Arabia pledged $1bn and Qatar $250m, while $174m will come from the United Arab Emirates. Japan, Italy and Turkey were among other nations who made multi-million dollar pledges to the PA.
On her part, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on her first foray into Middle East diplomacy, declared the Obama administration committed to pushing intensively to find a way for Israelis and Palestinians to exist peacefully in separate states. She used called Monday for urgent action to forge a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.
"We cannot afford more setbacks or delays — or regrets about what might have been, had different decisions been made," she said.
She made it clear, however, that Mideast leaders could count on Obama to take a more active approach than did his predecessor. "It is time to look ahead," she said, according to the AP. "The United States is committed to a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and we will pursue it on many fronts," she said.
In Sharm el-Sheikh, Clinton conducted a rapid-fire series of one-on-one meetings with Arab and other counterparts attending the conference. In an afternoon session with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, she expressed doubt that Iran would respond to Obama administration diplomatic overtures.
Clinton also met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and she attended a meeting of the so-called Quartet of international mediators — the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — seeking to forge progress toward peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
In her address, Clinton stressed that the Obama administration is taking a wide-angle view of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
