Much as the world has responded generously to assist Haitians after their devastating earthquake last month, the opposite has been true about the impoverished Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who have been under an increasingly debilitating siege since the Israeli blitz a little over a year ago.

The Obama administration has committed $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) to help rebuild Gaza, now home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians, many of them refugees from nearby towns in what is now Israel. The United Nations has also raised $4.5 billion (Dh16.5 billion) for this cause but, to date, neither the American nor the UN funds have been put to use because of the tight Israeli blockade, which is also enforced by the Egyptians on their border with the once Israeli-occupied Strip.