Solana: EU will play its part in Gaza reconstruction

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has been viewing for himelf the destruction in Gaza ahead of a donors conference on rebuilding the Palestinian territory.

Large areas were bombed into the ground and thousands lost their homes during Israel’s recent offensive against Hamas.

Solana said: “There will be a meeting in Cairo on Monday. The European Union will be there, and we would like, collectively with other countries of the world, to get the money that will be necessary to reconstruct the destruction (sic) that has taken place in this period of time.”

The Palestinian Authority will ask foreign governments for more than a billion euros to rebuild homes, industry and public offices.

In the meantime leaders of the rival Palestinan factions Hamas and Fatah have also been meeting in Egypt to try to settle their bloody feud. The West hopes that a national unity government would herald further peacemaking with Israel.

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tags: Gaza