The Politics of International Post-Conflict Interventions

Palestine between Peace-building, State-building and Back to Reconstruction

International mobilization for the reconstruction of Gaza began shortly after the end of "Operation Cast Lead," Israel's three-week military offensive from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, which caused unprecedented human loss and physical destruction, and aggravated an already calamitous humanitarian situation. Even before this war, the blockade imposed since June 2007 resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis, as four out of five people in Gaza became dependent on food handouts. A donor conference was convened on March 2, 2009 at the Egyptian resort of Sharm Al Sheikh. At the conference, major donors pledged the sum of $4.5 billion and endorsed a Palestinian Authority (PA) two-year Early Recovery and Reconstruction Plan (ERRP). However, almost a year after the Sharm Al Sheikh conference, international pledges, together with several Palestinian and international reconstruction plans, remain unimplemented.
As the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza recently commemorated the first year since the start of the latest all-out war, the question that begs an answer is what are the causes of the current reconstruction deadlock?