Hamas Rival Fayyad Wants Aid to go Directly to Citizens

Salam Fayyad, Palestine’s Prime Minister, encourages international donors everywhere to send Gaza money to help rebuild the city and people. But rather than send it through an organization, Fayyad has created a plan to send it directly to property owners and offers a way that effectively bypasses Hamas.

Fayyad’s suggestion of bypassing Hammas territory comes as no surprise since Hamas is Fayyad’s political rivals and the two share very little in common- especially when it comes to Gaza.

When it comes to aid for Gazans, Hamas wants a say over how the money is distributed. However, Fayyad sees that the international community is highly unlikely to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic militants that are still shunned by most of the world. Whether Hamas was elected as the Palestinian government or not, the United States and the European Union consider Hamas to be a terrorist group.

Fayyad proposes a plan that will send hundreds of millions of dollars in aid directly to the people of Gaza, along with the homes that were damaged or destroyed in the Israeli offensive.

Israeli missiles flattened the American School in Gaza. Prior to Israel's destruction of the school it was attacked twice by “religious fundamentalist groups,” the same groups that Israel purports to eliminate. Ironically, it took Israeli missiles, and not religious fundamentalists, to eliminate the best school in all of Gaza. As Director of the American School, Ribhi Salem, stated, "Israel wants us to live in the dark ages...where all we do is wait in line for gas and bread."

Citizens would get the money directly because Fayyad will have donors either send the money through his government or deal directly with Gaza's banks. The people of Gaza would then apply for reconstruction money, get it through the banks, and then work under the supervision of independent inspectors.

Fayyad said he expects to sign a memorandum of understanding with Gaza banks Thursday and said he has also briefed donors, who seemed to like the idea.

Under Fayyad's plan, even roads would be fixed by private contractors.

Fayyad's detailed proposal will be presented on March 2 at a donor pledging conference in Egypt for rebuilding Gaza after Israel's devastating offensive against Hamas last month.

So far, about 80 countries and organizations will participate in the conference in Egypt. Some of the people expected to attend are French President Nicholas Sarkozy along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend. Hamas and Israel will not be represented.

The demand for aid to the people of Gaza is due to Israel's offensive that has caused an estimated $2 billion in damage and nearly 1,300 Palestinians dead. The assault was launched to halt years of Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel.

With the backdrop of mounds of rubble and tents was another man, praying, on a piece of tarp. While the Israelis had taken away everything else of his, they did not take away his God, and to this, he bowed his head in gratitude.

When asked during an interview Wednesday whether he was trying to bypass Hamas, Fayyad said, "It's a bypass of delays… There are a lot of people in Gaza who are homeless, displaced and we really need to move fast to ensure that they have the housing they need as quickly as possible," he said.

But Hamas sees the situation along with Fayyad’s remarks differently. Hamas has accused Fayyad of trying to hijack reform for political gain.

"This is an attempt to politicize the project of reconstruction in Gaza, which contradicts all the Arab, international and Palestinian intentions to neutralize this project," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman.

However, it wasn’t made clear whether or not Hamas would try to stop the flow of aid to the people of Gaza and risk a backlash at home.

This Palestinian boy sits upon the rubble of his former home. He comes every other day and sits under the sun on the ruins that used to be his home.