@Tyon "Wer in diesen Tagen durch Gaza reist, der sieht Polizisten auf schicken weißen BMW-Motorrädern. Vor den Läden stapeln sich Berge von Wassermelonen, Tomaten und Pfirsichen. Nagelneue Autos fahren durch die Straßen, ein Einkaufszentrum und ein Fünf-Sterne-Hotel sollen bald eröffnen. Am Strand gibt es neue Restaurants und kleine Freizeitparks. Auf den ersten Blick gibt es keine humanitäre Krise in Gaza. (…) Hayeks offizieller Titel lautet: Generalsekretär des obersten Komitees zur Aufhebung der Blockade von Gaza. Er steht unter einem Mahnmal am Hafen von Gaza-Stadt, das der neun Türken gedenkt, die bei der israelischen Operation gegen die Flottille im vergangenen Jahr gestorben sind. Das Mahnmal ist eine etwa zehn Meter hohe Betonsäule, gekrönt von einer Weltkugel aus Eisen, es steht auf einem hübschen Podest aus Stein. Es ist nicht gerade ein Zeugnis von Betonknappheit. (…) Braucht Gaza den Zement, den die Flottille mitbringen will? 'Wie viel Zement haben die Schiffe denn geladen?', fragt Mansi und lacht. 'Das ist ein Symbol, mehr nicht. Was die israelische Armee uns von der ersten Flottille geliefert hat, reichte nur, um zwei Häuser zu bauen. Das ist nichts.' Dann steigt er in seinen silbernen Audi A6 und fährt davon."
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,772805,00.html (Archiv-Version vom 31.08.2011)Und gleich noch was zum NGO-Sektor.
"'Palestine is the best-kept secret in the aid industry,' I am told by Emily Williams, an American project manager at a medical NGO. People need field experience and Palestine sounds cool and dangerous because it can be described as a war zone, but in reality it's quite safe and has all the comforts that internationals want. Quality of life here is so much higher than somewhere like Afghanistan, but we don't tell anyone so that we are not replaced or reassigned.' That quality of life is becoming rapidly more apparent in the “A” areas. In cities like Ramallah and Nablus, expensive restaurants and high-powered financial institutions are common now. (...) With the proliferation of NGOs, the degrees that were just paper back home entitle us to prominent positions in growth industries. For media professionals, there is a wealth of material to be uncovered here, along with the experience of working on such a major issue."
http://thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3385&ed=193&edid=193"Naseef Mu'allem, director-general of the Palestinian Centre for Peace and Democracy, revealed that "JICA – the Japanese government aid mission – invested $5m last year, but practically what they spent is $600,000. The rest is given as salaries, accommodation, hotels, retreatment and transportation for the foreign employees here but not for the Palestinians". Without donors thoroughly checking on their investments, this kind of private profiteering has become normal.
Palestinian perceptions of foreign NGOs are revealing. Bir Zeit University's 2008 survey found just 35% of the West Bank population feel they contribute to the development of Palestinian society; 78% said they played some role in reducing human suffering and 55% felt they contribute to reinforcing the Israeli occupation.
According to DeVoir, the combination of these results seems to reveal a perception that NGOs "do not achieve political goals; they facilitate occupation by making it bearable". Certainly NGOs and international agencies have financial motives for sustaining the occupation, without which they could not obtain the funding to combat its effects.
The foreign money flooding into NGOs has entrenched class divisions in Palestinian society. Employment opportunities within them are typically limited to the educated elite class, narrowed further by routine nepotism. In Ramallah, the difference is most apparent with glitzy nightclubs on the doorsteps of refugee camps – the preserve of foreigners and rich Palestinians who live too comfortably to identify with the struggle for independence. Their money has already immunised them against the worst effects of occupation, working in jobs that allow them to cross borders and checkpoints, lessening their incentive to fight the status quo."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/19/palestine-aid-models-must-change