The head of the civil department at COGAT, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, recently sat down with CNN to discuss politics and reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
COGAT falls under the Defense Ministry, and is in charge of infrastructure, humanitarian and economic issues. Here are excerpts from the interview with Col. Grisha Yakubovich (lightly edited for clarity):
The infrastructure in Gaza needs a tremendous amount of work, a tremendous amount of rebuilding. The economy is in shambles and there is an international call for rebuilding in Gaza. Why aren’t efforts moving faster? Why aren’t they moving right now?
Israel is supporting Gaza rehabilitation, and there are more than 1 million tons of building materials that are already in Gaza, being implemented to reconstruct Gaza in two main channels. One is the international community channel and with projects that are being implemented by major donors, like Qatar for example.
And under the mechanism of rehabilitating those houses, above 83,000 people already got their building materials. But those are not the only steps that we are implementing towards Gaza.
Kerem Shalom crossing point is a major crossing that an average of 600 trucks are actually bringing goods into Gaza. The capabilities of this crossing are already adopted to 800 trucks per day and it will be ready to deal with 1,000 trucks per day quite soon.
Almost 5,000 people got permits that are allowed to go out of Gaza and trade with Israelis or with the West Bank from Gaza. This is only an example of major steps being authorized by COGAT and the state of Israel towards Gaza.
We believe that this support will support Gaza reconstruction.
What is the biggest obstacle to reconstruction?
Unfortunately, Hamas is using some of those building materials. They are buying them from the black market inside Gaza — to build new tunnels, to use those building materials for their terror abilities. And this is an organization, this is a terror organization, that all they care about is to see Israel being damaged, being hit, and I don’t see any other state in all of the world, that if somebody will open fire on their civilians or trying to kill civilians or trying to harm our society that would stand from the other side and see how we can support Gaza rehabilitation.
We hope that Hamas will also try and think about those people in Gaza, and instead of using the money for terror, they will use it to support the people of Gaza, like we do.
At this pace, how long will it take to rebuild Gaza?
The plan is that it will take 3½ years, like it was agreed in the donors’ conference in Egypt. It was even concluded last week at the AHLC (Ad Hoc Liason Committee) that the donors are satisfied that 27% of the money that were promised from this conference are already implemented in Gaza.
What is COGAT’s position on the blockade? And what would it take to lift it?
People of Gaza used to travel all over the world through Rafah crossing point (to Egypt). Today unfortunately, it’s closed. We have Kerem Shalom crossing point that we succeeded to increase the amount of trucks there on a daily basis. We’ve reached to 650 trucks per day that are delivering goods. We invested millions of shekels in Kerem Shalom crossing point so the people of Gaza will be able to get all the goods that they need.
Erez crossing point — more than 1,200 people on a daily basis are using this crossing point. The fishing zone is 6 miles. The amount of trucks, the amount of people who are using Erez, can you call it a blockade?
And let’s not forget, a terror organization is controlling the Gaza Strip.
Are you saying the world is wrong in calling it the Gaza blockade?
I cannot define it as a blockade. Because I’m using facts, numbers.
You can see the amount of trucks coming and bringing goods to Gaza on a daily basis. You can see the thousands of tons of goods being exported abroad or marketed to the West Bank of even to Israel.
You can see Erez crossing point accessing movement of traders, contractors, of the international community, of patients. People who are going to pray in Jerusalem every Friday.
Understanding that we are dealing with a terror organization, I think that Erez, Kerem Shalom, and the fishing zone of 6 miles, I would not call it whatever you named it.
The market abroad is open for (the Gazans), so whatever they want to export through Haifa port, Ashdod port, or Ben Gurion (International Airport), that is something that they can do freely. And if the market will open for them, I see no obstacles for them to open new markets from all the countries.
What will Gaza look like in five years? Ten years?
It depends. It depends on Hamas. It depends on what this terror organization will decide to do. Is it going to ruin Gaza or is it going to support the people of Gaza. We will try to do our best to find the balance between supporting the people of Gaza and dealing with increasing terror inside Gaza.
I hope that the people of Gaza will understand in the end that we are trying to help them.
They have a beautiful beach. They are beautiful people inside Gaza.
If the money will come, if the projects will be implemented, if the Palestinian Authority will be leading this reconstruction process, I think that they can flourish to a different situation — to a different place.