No surprise. Trump exaggerated/lied about Arab states paying for his Jewish Riviera on the Mediterranean.
The World Bank and the UN put reconstruction costs at $70bn (£53bn). Donald Trump had high hopes that rich Gulf monarchies would give a large part of this. He even had plans for a Gaza riviera, complete with a large gold statue of “your favorite president”. But so far, the response has been minimal.
As things stand, the Gulf states and others have donated around $1.14bn of the $4bn requested for urgent aid. That’s barely a quarter of what’s required just for basic humanitarian needs, let alone to start rebuilding. There’s precedent for this. At the 2014 Cairo donor conference, countries pledged $5.4bn, but as little as 2 per cent of the funds were actually sent.
This time, there’s more than the usual reluctance to cough up. The international response has been paralysed by the question of who will govern Gaza. Israel rejects any role for Hamas but also opposes involvement by the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu said he wanted neither “Hamastan” nor “Fatahstan”.
There’s supposed to be an international stabilization force to provide security. But Hamas won’t disarm, and no one wants to send troops to fight Gaza’s armed groups on Israel’s behalf. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Indonesia were all named as possible contributors to this force. All are now noticeably reluctant. (Turkey and Pakistan could still be willing, but Israel might not allow it.)
Trump thought Gulf monarchs would rebuild Gaza. Then he told them his plan |
