U.N. Seeks $613M In Urgent Aid For Gaza

Secretary-General Makes Emergency Appeal To Help Residents Recover From Israel's 3-Week Offensive

(CBS/AP)  The United Nations launched an emergency appeal Thursday for $613 million to help Palestinians recover from Israel's three weeks of military operations in Gaza.

If the Israelis allow the supplies to enter without obstacle, the donations will enable the U.N. and other aid organizations to jump into action, meeting critical needs for food, clean water, shelter, medicine and restoration of basic services, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

"Help is indeed needed urgently," he told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency said, however, that aid shipments are hitting bottlenecks on Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt. The crossings from Israel and Egypt have been tightly controlled or closed since Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Israeli Cabinet Minister Isaac Herzog said the border crossings were already adequately open.

"Humanitarian aid is entering Gaza at a rate of 150 trucks a day, which is the maximum amount of aid that the Palestinians can absorb at this time," said Herzog, who is in charge of coordinating international aid shipments to the territory. The Palestinians and aid groups, however, say the needs are much greater.

John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, said ordinary people are not getting sufficient help in time.

"There isn't enough access to Gaza. There are thousands of tons of assistance generously donated, sitting in Egypt, Jordan and the ports in Israel. That aid should be right here, right now, helping the people who need it," he said. "The crossing points have to open."

Talks dragged on over how to extend a cease-fire between Israel and the fundamentalist Islamic group and open the territory's crossings but apart from a handful of trucks sent by a charity sponsored by Egypt's ruling party, no cargo had gone through the Rafah crossing by the early afternoon Thursday. It was unclear why Egypt was curbing shipments.

Ahmed al-Kurd, the Hamas government minister of social affairs in Gaza, noted that Egypt is only allowing medical supplies through on its side of the border.

"The real demand is lifting the siege and opening the borders," said al-Kurd. "Food shipments cannot stay much longer at the borders."

Over a dozen trailer trucks loaded with white sacks of food could be seen waiting inside the Egyptian crossing terminal. Another dozen commercial trucks were lined up outside, and the drivers said they didn't know when they will be allowed in or why they were denied entry.

One truck driver on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing with Gaza said he was transporting cheese, milk and yogurt and had been waiting for two days to make his delivery.

A trickle of passengers went through the Gaza-Egypt border Thursday, including 40 Jordanian engineers who were going in to assess damage.

"We don't want to go back to the position we had before the fighting started where effectively normal economic and other life in Gaza was being strangled by the restrictions on goods and movement," Holmes said.

"For example, no construction materials were able to get through or other key equipment and spare parts," he added. "Clearly we understand Israel's security concerns, but we believe they can be addressed without sacrificing the basic needs of the population," he said.

Ban - the first world leader to enter Gaza since an Israeli blockade of the territory in June 2007 - said the failure to act quickly will lead to even greater humanitarian calamity among the 1.4 million civilians who suffered because of the offensive launched in December to crush Hamas rocket squads.

"More than one-third of the 6,600 deaths and injured were children and women," Ban said. "As a father of three I was especially troubled by the suffering and trauma that so many families went through."

Ban said he was encouraged that the United States and some European countries had agreed to try to prevent the smuggling of illicit arms and weapons from the wider region into Gaza again, which otherwise would allow Hamas to use the cease-fire to strengthen itself.

"That's a very serious issue," Ban said.

Meanwhile, Israeli election front-runner used the Davos forum to seek increased pressure on Iran's nuclear program, saying the while the world can recover from the global economic crisis it faces, the effects of a nuclear Iran are "not reversible."

[hamiltongrad]

The UN should be in the business of supporting FREEDOM and LIBERTY, not propping up brutal regimes that refuse to even allow freedom of religion, or freedom for women, or GAAAYS. In the ideal world, a united UN force would force out the bad guys and install a Democracy.
HEY ! They are having the first really FREE ELECTION in IRAQ tomorrow ! Good job Pres. Bush and all our brave troops. We brought democracy to IRAQ. Let freedom ring. POWER TO THE PEOPLE !

[hamiltongrad]

Petro49: Why would you support a people that are so intolerant to the point of publically hanging gaaays. ?

[mrnegrodamus]

People of Gaza need the money. Without relief, the Israelis will insist on moving there. Nazis settled all over Europe during the 1930s and 1940s by committing acts of murder, threat, and the destruction of property.


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Posted by Petro49L at 07:05 AM : Jan 30, 2009
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lets be logical here..IF ISRAEL WANTS THAT SEPTIC TANK OF A COUNTRY..they would had take it already THE FIRST TIME...who is going to stop them?? the UN?? a pimply liberal blogger??

THEY JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE...

[mrnegrodamus]

and of course the HAMAS are BEGGING for aid but DEMANDS that they are not subjected to any accounting measures on how the aid is spread out...

AND OF COURSE THE UNITED NATIONS IS THAT DENSE

[mrnegrodamus]

the United Nations cannot be this dense..
where did all of those materials and money from the past go???????????????????????????????

I mean the Hamas CANNOT STEAL all of those welfare aid..not unless they want to keep its citizens in dire need JUST LIKE THEY ARE NOW

[mrnegrodamus]

The People of Gaza need the money. Without relief, the Israelis will insist on moving there. Nazis settled all over Europe during the 1930s and 1940s by committing acts of murder, threat, and the destruction of property.


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Posted by Petro49L at 07:05 AM : Jan 30, 2009
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THEY DO HAVE THE MONEY..they just decided to spend it ON ROCKETS AND OTHER WEAPONRY..

[mrnegrodamus]

of course the United Nations is running a ''charitable event'' for the HAMAS..

its the least the servant can do for its master..

GET RID OF THE UN AND MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE PRROBLEMS OF EXPLOITATION AND DICTATORSHIP DISAPPEAR

[hamiltongrad]

Why the world is crazy ..
In a land (GAZALAND) where, Gaaays are killed outright on the streets of -0 being tortured first - , where Christian women are forced to convert to being Muslime and forced to marry men they do not even know, where the sole YMCA was burned to the groud and the leaders killed and hung for all to see, where innocent children are targeted for death, where there is no freedome of speech or religion, ....... the proper response of the world should be... To send in a military force to establish real freedom, not prop up a nazi like repressive regime, that cares not for other people''s rights !

The UN should be on the front lines, bringing liberty and freedom to people, not this charade to back "militants" who hate all things Western, and want to destroy the only democratic state there, Israel.

The world is upside down.

[petro49l]

The People of Gaza need the money. Without relief, the Israelis will insist on moving there. Nazis settled all over Europe during the 1930s and 1940s by committing acts of murder, threat, and the destruction of property.

[rapepublicon]

I''m going to go right out and fill the tank with gas. That''s my contribution. Let the sheiks use it, and their billions upon billions, to support their "spiritual brethren" in their time of need. . . .

[wardoglrs]

U.N. Seeks $613M In Urgent Aid For Gaza:

Folks this is code to fleece you even more out of your money.

Its also robbery to take from one group by force of there fruits and give it away

The UN is a Jewish Neo Con HQ shop to rape the world
Get rid of the UN NAFTA CAFTA And the rest of these cultist beast

[quanshi]

Let''s take all the money we usually send Israel and give it to the Palestinians. As several posters have acknowledged, there will soon be more Palestinians than Israelis, and based on her past performance, it seems most likely that Israel will embrace all-out ethnic cleansing. Apartheid states do not last long, and Israel has so far not shown any willingness to treat Palestinians equally, humanely, or respectfully. Personally, I am sick to death of the heartlessness, the national victim consciousness, and the power-brokering of the Israelis.

[quanshi]

Let''s take all the money we usually send Israel and give it to the Palestinians. Perhaps then the murderous state of Israel will think twice about a policy of killing civilians and visiting a holocaust on innocent and undefended people.

[benjiding]

This is what Jimmy Carter says
"That%u2019s exactly right. I quoted [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak in condemning that as an unacceptable possibility, but it%u2019s happening. At this moment there are more non-Jews than there are Jews in that one state area. And there will soon be a majority of Arabs in that one state area, which means that Israel will have only three completely unacceptable options. One is what you might call ethnic cleansing, which nobody wants, and that means forcing Palestinians to leave the land, and of course they would not be received well at all in Lebanon or Jordan or Egypt. The second option would be to have a nation within which you would have two classes of citizens: One, Jews with votes; the other, Arabs without votes. And that would be the equivalent to the apartheid situation in South Africa. The third and only remaining option is for the Arabs to have a majority of votes, and with some division among Jews, not much division, and Arabs pretty much voting as a block, they would control the whole government and you would no longer have a Jewish state. So that%u2019s the option, the other one is to have a two state solution."

[factsearcher]

Instead of giving out money, the palestinian need the actual aid in supplies, reconstruction, rebuilding...because if ANY of the donated money goes in the hands of the government, the people won''''t see the aid and that is a fact!
There is no doubt the average palestinian need the help, the supplies....but let''''s not forget that many of hamas or hamas brainwashed people are still trying to fire rockets back into Israel..Therefore, not only supplies are needed but more importantly RE-EDUCATION and UN_BRAINWASHING of the minds that PEACE is achievable if working for common goals and take the weapons down.

You sound like a NASCAR Belgianweiser Hoot Bumpkin that doesn''''t have the education level to understand the complexities of the Middle East much less offer a valuable opinion. You should go home. You''''ve embarrassed yourself here.

Posted by FloydZeppd

Why is that stinky Fluid...because you didnt read any jihadist stuppidity on my post!
Truth hurts!
The palestinian need help..no argument there...but that Jordan and Egypt need to open up to their fellow palestinians is a fact must of you do not want to face. Needless to say... palestinians are partly jordanians and egyptians after all...let them lend the so much needed help too.
where is the humanity in your fellow brothers???
I remember reading many years ago israelis flew ethiopian jews to israel and lent the hand...learn the lesson stinky!

[factsearcher]

Also, very important!
Let Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon... open their borders and help their fellows palestinians get the help they need. Do NOT demand Israel to be the sole enabler....
these other countries together with Iran and Syria need to unclench the fist and step up..soounds familiar??? Obama alrady said it!

[factsearcher]

Instead of giving out money, the palestinian need the actual aid in supplies, reconstruction, rebuilding...because if ANY of the donated money goes in the hands of the government, the people won''t see the aid and that is a fact!
There is no doubt the average palestinian need the help, the supplies....but let''s not forget that many of hamas or hamas brainwashed people are still trying to fire rockets back into Israel..Therefore, not only supplies are needed but more importantly RE-EDUCATION and UN_BRAINWASHING of the minds that PEACE is achievable if working for common goals and take the weapons down.

[benjiding]

CBS 60 minutes has covered the conflict in a 12 minute segment, here is the link http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n

Demographers predict that within ten years Arabs will outnumber Jews in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Without a separate Palestinian state the Israelis would have three options, none of them good. They could try ethnic cleansing, drive the Palestinians out of the West Bank, or they could give the Palestinians the vote. That would be the democratic option but it would mean the end of the Jewish state. Or they could try apartheid - have the minority Israelis rule the majority Palestinians, but apartheid regimes don''t have a very long life.
Apartheid? Israel is building what it calls a security wall between the West Bank and Israel. The Palestinians are furious because it appropriates eight percent of the West Bank. Not only that. It weaves its way through Palestinian farms, separating farmers from their land. They have to wait at gates for soldiers to let them in. Settlers get a lot more water than Palestinians, which is why settlements are green and Arab areas are not.

Moderate Israelis who deplore the occupation used to believe passionately in a two-state solution. That is no longer the case.

Meron Benvenisti used to be deputy mayor of Jerusalem. He told Simon the prospects of the two-state solution becoming a reality are "nil."

[wdh3007]

Why so they can buy more weapons to kill those they don''t like? Not very smart Mr. Ban Ki-Moon sounds like you need a lesson in Foreign Realtions 101 before making such idiotic statements. Now hurry & go get a clue before it''s too late!

[my2cents8]

Let''s divert the $6.5 million PER DAY in foregin aid that we send to Israel to Gaza to help them recover from the Israeli attacks.