‘’The reconstruction of Gaza “is one of our interests as much as it is an interest of all the free world,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende during a meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.
However he said ‘’reconstruction efforts should go along with the demilitarization of Gaza because otherwise we can see the next round of violence in no time.”
‘’Without demilitarization, Hamas will put the international funds it receives for building into military aims and the ability to attack Israel once again,” he added.
If Israel’s security needs are fulfilled, Gaza could become a “paradise” for its residents, he said.
Emphasizing the importance of the rule of law, Rivlin said that over the past twenty years instead of wars between states, there have been wars between states and terrorist organizations.
Brende said that he will be in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss details with the Egyptians about hosting an international donors meeting for the reconstruction of Gaza with the proviso that there be a permanent ceasefire in Gaza under Egyptian supervision.
Norway and Egypt are gathering funds to rebuild Gaza following this summer’s conflict.
Brende said, “I know that this has been a very difficult summer for Israel. I was here in July and I saw this. It has been tough on Israel and tough on the Palestinian people.”
During his July visit, thje minister had to shelter from rockets fired from Gaza, while visiting the city of Ashkelon with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.
In addition to trying to find a solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict and rebuilding and rehabilitating Gaza, the world must push back extremist organizations such as ISIS (Islamic State), he told the Israeli President.
Brende, who attended the NATO Summit meeting in Wales at the end of last week, said that the issues of the Middle East had been discussed there, and that there had been consensus about the need to push back extremist organizations such as Islamic State, which Brende said is “one of the worst things we have seen in modern history.”
Brende, who was in Baghdad in the last week of August, said that he had heard “the most unbelievably horrible stories” about the suffering inflicted by Isis, and therefore was adamant that solutions must be found not only to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, but also to the broader issues in the region.