The Consensus Government meeting is considered an important step to end the political split between Gaza and the West Bank, says NPA partner organizations.
On October 9, Gaza City hosts the first Palestinian National Consensus Government (PNCG) meeting since mid-2007. Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah arrives in Gaza Thursday together with all West Bank based ministers to hold meetings with the 4 Gaza based Ministers.
The meeting should be considered an "important step” towards reaffirming the end of the split, and a message of reassurance to the donor countries, which will meet on Sunday October 12 in Cairo to pledge funds for reconstructing Gaza.
The Consensus Government are expected to discuss both the reconstruction of Gaza and the question of lifting the blockade and opening the borders.
The people in Gaza have lived under siege since 2007, and the need to open the borders allowing access to people and goods is a topic that is widely discussed at all levels in Gaza. Another topic that most likely will be discussed is how to ensure that that the electricity supply in Gaza increases. Currently people in Gaza only receive 8 hours of electricity in a 24 hour period. It remains unconfirmed whether a long term solution for salaries for about 40,000 government employees will be discussed and agreed.
Since the year 2008, NPA Palestine has been supporting initiatives to promote political reconciliation at a grassroots level through local partners. The work aims at reducing in the political (and physical) divide between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The project coordinator of the joint project with NPA Partner organization Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR) Mr Monem Tahrawi said: “PCDCR is very pleased for such a visit as it constitutes a real positive step for the future. In addition, the visit is a practical response to all the efforts that were excreted towards achieving the reconciliation. We would like to urge the government to work with both Gaza and West Bank as one entity. And we would like to call upon the government to work on all the pending issue in the Gaza Strip taking into account the devastation occurred in Gaza after the last war."
The Union of Palestinian of Women Committee’s Director Ms Taghreed Jomaa (UPWC) said: “We were one of the main players of ending the split though the constant campaigns and demonstrations that we were conducting every week. We are looking positively to the visit of the Prime Minister and the government to Gaza. However, we hope that this visit will be a serious step towards ending the split. We also hope that the priorities of this government will be for the reconstruction of Gaza after the last war. The families that lost their houses need temporary houses to stay in until their homes are being built as they cannot stay longer in the shelters”.
After this first cabinet meeting the cabinet delegation will travel from the Gaza Strip to Egypt to participate in the Cairo Conference on the rebuilding of Gaza. During the conference donor countries will discuss how to support the current needs for reconstructing of damages in Gaza as a result of the July and August war. UN estimates of costs for the required reconstruction is 9.1 billion USD.