Qatar invites bids to reconstruct Gaza

[oberliner]

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Qatari government on Tuesday invited tenders for four construction projects, in the first stage of a $254 million project to rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Qatar's ambassador to Gaza Muhammad al-Imadi is heading a committee overseeing the work.

Consultants have been invited to submit designs for a city to be named after Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa al-Thani. The $30-million development will include 1,000 residential units in five-story apartment blocks, schools, stores, clinics, parks and entertainment facilities, the ambassador said in a statement.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=525462

[bunnies]

1. Is this a bad thing?

It'd be nice if the people living there had their living conditions improved.

[Alamuti Lotus]

2. the al-Thani dictatorship does not have peoples' well-being in mind

in crudest (perhaps over-simplified) terms, Hamas is being bought from its former nominal (and highly overstated) liege, replacing revolutionary idealogy with a political platform more palatable to the "West": worship of money and hypercapitalism. Paradoxically, Qatar has nominally taken the reigns of certain strains of the Brotherhood in the midst of this so-called "Arab Spring" nonsense, as its wedge to wield against the Saudis. I say paradoxically, as the Thani dictatorship has also recently more strongly embraced the Wahhabi doctrine of its chief rival; the Wahhabis and Ikhwanis have typically been at odds, the Egyptian intellectuals that founded the Brotherhood found ibn Saud's forces to be bandits and zealots.
Nonethelesss, Israel has reason to celebrate with what is symbolized by these proceedings, but the people of Gaza will not.

[oberliner]

3. Why does Israel have to reason to celebrate?

Not sure I get the angle you are suggesting there.

[Alamuti Lotus]

4. the capitulation of Hamas to the counter-revolutionary camp

I don't entirely endorse this concept, but Hamas has been spoken of as being a part of some "arc of resistance" which runs thru Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and including certain Palestinian factions. The Gulf monarchies, the primary powers being the wahhabist dictatorships in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, represent the reactionary camp opposed to resisting the zionists and is closely in line with the US business interests, military schemes, and hypercapitalist economics;--interests which include collaboration with Israel on many points (rarely openly--official doctrine remains superficially highly anti-semetic, though it is clear that the leaders do not believe what they are peddling). Capitulation of former resistance movements like Hamas to the latter camp of collaboration represents good progress for Israel, good progress for Hamas leadership bank accounts, though means no tangible benefit for ordinary people.

[oberliner]

5. But Hamas is looking for international legitimacy

It seems like Qatar opening up what amounts to basically an embassy in Gaza and working with the Hamas government brings them (Hamas) a fair amount of legitimacy, which is something that I would think Israel would view negatively. Especially as it is essentially Israel's intention to ignore (or de-legitimatize) Hamas and talk exclusively to the PA (if they talk to anyone at all). This move seems to work against Israel's interests in that regard. As you point out, Qatar is one of the more "friendly" states to Israel in the region (relatively speaking) - and by working with Hamas in this way, they are sending a message that is antithetical to the one being espoused by the Israeli government (i.e. that Hamas is a terrorist organization, not a legitimate governing body).