While the United Nations continues trying to get as many peacekeepers into southern Lebanon as possible to ensure that the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah holds, Lebanon itself has changed its focus to rebuilding. The bill looks to be pretty steep -- and the battered country will need all outside help it can get.
To that end, the international community is gathering in Stockholm on Thursday to pass the hat. Around 60 governments and aid organizations will attend a donors conference and organizers are hoping the meeting will net at least $500 million in pledges to rebuild bridges, roads, and other infrastructure, as well as to help find housing for displaced families. Money is also needed to fund the clearing of unexploded ordnance -- initial surveys suggest that up to 70 percent of Israeli bombs didn't explode on impact.
Money had already started to flow in ahead of the conference with the Swedish government -- as conference hosts -- promising $20 million and the Italian government on Tuesday approving a $38 million package. The European Union has offered $54 million. Organizers were hoping for extensive participation from Arab countries as well and Saudi Arabia has already donated $5 million.
Estimates as to how much aid money Lebanon might end up needing have varied considerably. The government estimates that early recovery measures might cost around $540 million. Earlier, the government had estimated that it might require some $3.6 billion to fix damages caused by the Israeli offensive -- which lasted for 34 days after the July 12 kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers at the hands of Hezbollah militants.
On Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said his government would pay $33,000 compensation per destroyed house to help displaced Lebanese return to their homes. Some 130,000 housing units were destroyed in the Israeli military campaign. Hezbollah had already begun handing out $12,000 to each family whose home was bombed.
Siniora on Wednesday evening also rejected the idea of signing a peace agreement with Israel. During a press conference with visiting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the cease-fire agreement a "cornerstone to build a new reality between Israel and Lebanon." Siniora, however, countered later in the day by saying that Lebanon "will be the last Arab country that could sign a peace agreement with Israel. Let me be clear, we are not seeking any agreement until there is just and comprehensive peace based on the Arab initiative," he said in Beirut.
The Arab initiative calls for Israel to withdraw from all territories captured in 1967 and for the creation of a Palestinian state.
Even as potential donor nations are considering how much money to hand over, aid groups operating in Lebanon are complaining about difficulties created by the ongoing Israeli sea and air blockade of the country. UNICEF said on Wednesday that its personnel in Lebanon have complained about hurdles being placed before aid deliveries. The group emphasized that southern Lebanon badly needs deliveries of drinking water, with many of the pumps and pipes having been destroyed by the Israeli bombardment.
While in Israel on Wednesday, Annan asked for an immediate lifting of the blockade, but Israel said it would only do so once the cease-fire -- which calls for 15,000 Lebanese troops and 15,000 UN troops to deploy in southern Lebanon and to enforce an arms embargo on Hezbollah -- has been fully implemented.
"We are not looking for a blockade for the sake of a blockade," Israel's vice premier Shimon Peres told reporters on Wednesday. "We want to make sure there won't be a re-armament of Hezbollah."
The UN is still in the process of gathering troops to send to southern Lebanon with a contingent of 800 Italian troops set to arrive on Friday. Germany on Wednesday indicated that was considering sending 1,200 soldiers as part of a naval mission to patrol the waters off Lebanon. The contingent would make Germany the third largest contributor after Italy and France. The Israeli paper Maariv said that between 6,000 and 10,000 Israeli soldiers are still inside southern Lebanon.
The UN on Wednesday strongly rebuked Israel for its use of cluster bombs on civilian areas in Lebanon. Jan Egeland, UN head of humanitarian affairs, said that unexploded cluster bombs were creating "massive problems" for civilians returning to their homes. "What's shocking, and I would say to me completely immoral, is that 90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," Egeland said. "Every day people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance."
Hezbollah, meanwhile, is continuing with its refusal to release the two Israeli soldiers it captured on July 12 as called for by the UN cease-fire resolution. "There will be no unconditional release," said Mohammed Fneish, one of two Hezbollah members of the Lebanese cabinet. "There should be an exchange through indirect negotiations. This is the principle to which Hezbollah and the resistance are adhering."
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