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The first multi-expert blog dedicated solely to counterterrorism issues, serving as a gateway to the community for policymakers and serious researchers. Designed to provide realtime information about terrorism cases and policy developments.
 

On Rebuilding Gaza

By David Schenker

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Clinton attended an international donors' conference on reconstructing the Gaza Strip and pledged $900 million in US funding for the Palestinians. In the coming months as the rebuilding of Gaza takes center stage, a competition will unfold pitting the ostensibly pro-peace Fatah faction of the PLO against the terrorist organization Hamas. At stake is the political credit for rebuilding Gaza, which was decimated during the three-week January 2009 war.

I’ve written an article published in the March 2009 issue of Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst titled “Why the race is on to rebuild Gaza,” discussing the competition between Hamas and Fatah, and comparing it to a similar struggle that occurred following the 2006 summer war between Hizballah and Israel. In Lebanon, the democratically-elected pro-west Government was vying for political credit for rebuilding with Syrian-Iranian backed Hizballah.