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Winning the Gaza Ceasefire: "Reconstruction or Rockets"
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Robert Satloff - In the post-conflict period, the U.S. should frame the next phase as "reconstruction or rockets." Given the swell of global sympathy for the people of Gaza, urgent humanitarian relief should proceed immediately. But reconstruction is a different story. This time, rebuilding Gaza should be conditioned on intrusive monitoring measures that deny the group the ability to rearm and reconstruct its tunnel network - lessons learned from the failed oversight efforts that followed the 2014 conflict. Financial support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank should be paired so that the PA's policy of restraint and cooperation is rewarded, not Hamas' policy of violence and confrontation. For every dollar of reconstruction assistance to Gaza, a dollar of development aid (not PA budgetary support) should flow to the West Bank to help bolster Abbas. The writer is executive director of The Washington Institute.