Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

The international conference on the reconstruction of Gaza kicked off today in the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak opened the conference, which was attended by over 45 foreign ministers as well as UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and directors of regional and international organizations and funds. The Conference is also being attended by some European leaders, including former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also taking part in the conference. This is her first visit to the region since she took up her new job. Clinton was joined in Sharm el-Sheikh by the new Middle East envoy George Mitchell. She announced US aid to the Gaza Strip for an estimated $900 million dollars. She also said the Obama administration would "vigorously pursue a two state solution." She also spoke about her new role on the Middle East Quartet which she took over from former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. The Quartet is a group of four nations involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli and Palestinian territories. The Quartet includes the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.

Three key concerns on the agenda include the absence of Israeli representatives at the Conference, how to get aid and reconstruction materials into the region with the current climate of security, and without the participation of Hamas, how rebuilding Gaza would be possible.

President Sarkozy of France said it was the global community's "moral duty" to solve the crisis in Gaza. He called for 2009 as "the year of peace" for the region. "The time is now to speed up the agenda to end the crisis. We know the parameters, there is no other solution but a political solution."

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he hoped the Italian government, when hosting the G-14 meeting in July in Italy, could form a Marshall Plan to give needed assistance to the region as well as develop a strategy to "boost tourism for Christians and Muslims by building an airport to receive tourists wishing to visit the holy lands including Bethlehem ."

Secretary-General Moussa from the League of Arab States underscored the need to move away from dialogue that labeled a people under occupation as "terrorists" and that the focus must first be put on assisting Palestinian refugees who have spent decades in transit.

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