transcript

This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI's THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI's THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: I'm Lisa Mullins, and this is The World. Hillary Clinton made two pledges at a conference in Egypt today. The Secretary of State said the US will vigorously try to advance peace in the Middle East – and she backed up her promise with some cold hard cash for the Palestinians. $900 million dollars in all. The Palestinians need the money, mainly to rebuild Gaza after Israel's recent offensive. Other international donors at the conference are now pledging an additional $3.5 billion dollars to the effort. The BBC's Christian Frazer is at Sharm-el-Sheikh, the site of the meeting. Christian, that 3.5 billion-dollar figure among international donors on top of the US money is a lot more money than was expected. What are people there making of the top dollar figure?

CHRISTIAN FRAZER: Well, the Palestinian Authority has said this evening it's quite surprised by the figure, and it's way and above what they were calling for. Perhaps a reflection that the international community is now throwing its weight behind a two-state solution and also throwing its weight behind the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas. Hillary Clinton was making her first foray today into complex Middle East diplomacy, and for me it was notable that throughout her speech, she steered well clear of the word “Hamas.” Instead she referred only to the Palestinian Authority and to the President, Mahmoud Abbas, who she said was the only reliable partner for peace.

HILLARY CLINTON: Through his commitment to negotiations with neighbors, President Abbas has shown the hallmarks of leadership, not the violence and false choices of extremists, whose tactics including rocket attacks that continue to this day, only will lead to more hardship and suffering.

MULLINS: Well, I wonder if Palestinians feel the same way. Hamas is still in charge in Gaza and the Gaza Strip. The United States State Department still considers it a terrorist organization. There will be many people certainly here in the United States and also abroad who will wonder if all the donors can safeguard this money from being skimmed off or diverted by Hamas?

FRAZER: I think that's the major concern of the donors here in Sharm-el-Sheik. The money was really there before the conference, the bulk of it, and so I think the business of this conference has been talking about the practicalities of it, the mechanics of how they get the money to the people who need it while ensuring that it doesn't go to the men of violence. But of course, it's also incumbent on the international community to find some way to get it into Gaza, because the Israelis still have a tight grip on the crossing points into Gaza. And if you can't get things like cement and steel into the area to help the Palestinians who are rebuilding their homes and their schools, it's hard to envision how the reconstruction effort can run smoothly.

MULLINS: Since you have been to Gaza, the populous on the ground there seems to still place a lot of credibility with Hamas versus President Abbas, the one that Hillary Clinton among others seem to be placing so much stock in right now. Will the fact that there is this money from the international donors that's supposed to be going exclusively to President Abbas, not with Hamas but with Fatah, will that lend among Palestinians more credibility for President Abbas himself?

FRAZER: It could well do. I would make two points really about this. One is from personal experience. At the end of the conflict, I went to victory rallies in corners that Hamas were holding in and around Gaza city, and they weren't very well attended. So we don't really know what the thoughts of the Palestinian people are. There's been no election. That may come in the next year, and then we will get a very clear idea of what the Palestinian people are thinking. But you know, yesterday, it was snowing in Gaza, would you believe? The first time surely in many years. And there were many people who were still living under canvas and in tents, and there are people who are still sharing homes with families – three families to a house. There are 14,000 homes that have been destroyed or partially damaged. So very quickly, people are going to get frustrated if this reconstruction effort doesn't begin. And maybe that will play into the hands of Salam Fayed and Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. If they have the money and if they are seen to be doing the right things with the money, then surely people will think, “Perhaps we'd be better with Fatah in power in Gaza.”

MULLINS: The BBC's Christian Frazer in Sharm el-Sheikh, where the international donors conference for the Palestinians has just concluded. Thank you very much, Christian.

FRAZER: You're welcome. Thank you.

Copyright ©2008 PRI's THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI's THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World's Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.