QATAR INKS AGREEMENT TO RESUME GAZA FUNDING:
NEW MECHANISM OF GRANTS TO CIVIL SERVANTS, FAMILIES INVOLVE PNA, UN
Qatar will soon resume funding for civil servants and poor families in the Gaza Strip under a new mechanism involving the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the UN, the Gulf state’s aid envoy said yesterday.
Mohammed Al Emadi said after meeting Hamas leaders in Gaza that Qatari stipends for civil servants and poor families, suspended since May, would resume in the coming days.
Al Emadi hoped that the resumption of payouts and a full border opening “will have a clear and positive impact on improving the living reality in Gaza Strip [and] help all parties emerge from the tense situation”.
Qatar and Egypt have both promised funds to help rebuild the Palestinian territory. Having already pumped more than $1 billion into Gaza projects since 2014, Qatar pledged another $500 million in late May.
Border crossings
Emadi said the new agreement also entails full opening of border crossings with Gaza, which Israel and neighbouring Egypt keep cordoned off. There was no immediate word on when this might happen.
The hold-up in Qatari payouts had fuelled rancour in aiddependant Gaza, which in recent days has seen increasingly violent border confrontations with Israel.
Gas-rich Qatar used to spend $30 million per month to help operate the enclave’s lone power plant and to support needy families and Hamas-hired public
servants. Hamas, blacklisted as a terrorist group in the West, has endorsed the new payment mechanism, Al Emadi said.
Israeli officials had previously said that the PNA- and UN-led
mechanism could involve disbursing the Qatari aid as vouchers rather than cash, as a safeguard against Hamas diverting the money to military needs.
Stalemate resolved
The stalemate appeared to have been resolved late last
month when Israel and Qatar announced approval of a new mechanism to distribute the funds, with money transferred directly to individuals by the UN. Under the scheme, Israeli-approved recipients in Gaza will be issued UN credit cards to withdraw the funds, sources said.
But the aid distribution had not yet started and unrest persisted, with Palestinians staging protests and violent riots along the Gaza-Israel border. Israeli forces responded, at times with lethal force.
A source within Hamas said a sticking point was its insistence that its civil servants be allowed to benefit from Qatari aid.