George S. Hishmeh, Al Arabiya News Channel, Feb 5, 2010
Much as the world has responded marvelously and generously to calls to help Haitians after their devastating earthquake last month. The opposite has been true about the impoverished Palestinians in Gaza Strip who have been under an increasingly tighter siege since the Israeli blitz a little over a year ago.
The Obama administration has committed $300 million to help rebuild the heavily demolished area, now home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians, many of them refugees from nearby towns in what is now Israel. The United Nations has also raised $4.5 billion, but to date, neither the American nor the U.N. funds have been spent there because of the tight Israeli blockade which is also enforced by the Egyptians on their border with the once Israeli-occupied strip.
Tags: blockade of Gaza, George S. Hishmeh, Israel, Palestinians in Gaza, Richard Goldstone report
