Aid groups say they, not Hamas, are thwarted by Israeli restrictions on Gaza

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/20/AR2010122004661.html

By Janine Zacharia Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, December 20, 2010; 10:42 PM

GAZA CITY - Despite recent moves by Israel to ease construction in the Gaza Strip, restrictions on building materials are hampering international humanitarian efforts while doing little to impede the Hamas-led government they are designed to weaken, aid and nongovernmental groups say.

Israel says the limits on cement and other imports are intended to prevent misuse by Hamas. But the Islamist militant group has ready access to construction materials through smuggling tunnels along the border with Egypt.

Instead, aid groups say, Israeli bureaucracy and bottlenecks at border crossings are snarling the delivery of materials to international relief organizations struggling to build much-needed housing, schools and infrastructure projects.

"The United Nations, who have a responsibility to help, we're the ones that are held up," John Ging, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency's Gaza operations, said in an interview. "We're held up from building schools. We're held up from our other infrastructure projects, from the housing people need. And, yet, for the other parts of society here - be that either those with ulterior agendas or people who just have money - they can get on with it."...READ MORE

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