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Gaza Shelves Stocked; Palestinians Cause Own Medicine Shortages

(Reuters) Nidal al-Mughrabi - If pro-Palestinian activists manage to slip past Israel's naval blockade on Gaza, they might be surprised by what they see in the Hamas-controlled enclave when they disembark. Roads are being paved, houses are being built, new cars have taken to the busy streets and shops are full of myriad products. Egypt's recent uprising has eroded policing in the Sinai, allowing smugglers to bring in more supplies through tunnels, aiding the reconstruction of Gaza's infrastructure. The Hamas economy minister, Ala al-Rafati, estimates that up to 14,000 workers had returned to their jobs in the construction sector in recent months, and up to 1,000 factories, most of them small-scale family firms, had resumed operation. Mahmoud Daher, the Gaza office director of the World Health Organization, said shortages of medicine and medical equipment cannot be blamed directly on Israel. Daher said the two main reasons were a failure by the Palestinian authorities to pay suppliers on time and a lack of cooperation between health authorities in the West Bank and Gaza, which are governed by rival Palestinian movements.
2011-07-01 00:00:00
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