ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Qatar stock market tanks on global cues Business | 17 Monday 13 October 2014 • 19 Dhu’l-Hijja 1435 • Volume 19 Number 6217 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Qatar pledges $1bn for Gaza Flats remain vacant International donors to contribute $5.4bn for reconstruction as owners shun CAIRO: Qatar will contribute $1bn for reconstruction of Gaza, Foreign Minister individual tenants H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah said yesterday. BY SIDI MOHAMED These are the benefits for the Speaking at the international conference owners, but it is the limited- on rebuilding Gaza being held in Cairo, Al DOHA: A large number of new, income man who suffers in the Attiyah said that the Palestinian people in ready-to-use residential build- as rents go up due to shortages Gaza were the target of the most horrendous ings in and around the city are being created. aggression. The 50-day conflict killed thou- lying vacant despite increasing This phenomenon (of owners sands of innocent civilians, destroyed infra- demand. of new buildings wanting compa- structure, houses, places of worship, health The demand for housing, partic- nies as tenants) is encouraging and educational facilities among others amid ularly in Doha and its near-suburbs limited-income people to move the inability of the international community far exceeds supply, fuelled mainly into shared apartments and par- to stop this recurrent onslaught on innocent by a rising expatriate population. titioned villas, said Al Dosri. and unarmed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, According to real estate mar- Moreover, construction materi- the Minister added. ket operators, the owners of these als are becoming expensive and The Foreign Minister said that the broad buildings want to let them only to their prices are likely to rise international participation in the conference companies and not to individuals further with mega development reflected the international community’s firm and families. projects being launched. vision toward the reconstruction of the Gaza And that is one of the addi- There would be more demand Strip. tional factors pushing up rents as for materials that would trigger Dr Al Attiyah said that while the Palestinian so many buildings lying vacant is shortages, tempting some to prof- people are in need of funds for the reconstruc- mounting pressure on demand, iteering, said Al Dosri. tion, they are also in dire need of the interna- according to real estate expert, “This would escalate house tional community’s political support to achieve Faisal Al Dosri. “It’s undoubt- rents in the months and years to their inalienable rights and to establish an edly a negative phenomenon and come,” warned Al Dosri. independent state. He reiterated that just adversely impacting the rental Then, there are greedy and peace is the true guarantee for sustaining what market,” Al Dosri told local illegal real estate brokers who will be rebuilt and reconstructed, adding the The Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah with US Secretary of State John Kerry Arabic daily Al Arab in comments remain on the prowl, operating international community, especially the coun- during the Gaza Donor Conference in Cairo yesterday. published yesterday. from their cars. tries concerned with the Middle East peace The owners of new buildings They are making it harder for process should bear responsibilty and take prefer big companies to rent out the limited-income family man steps to force Israel to bow to international Qatar granted $27m to the victims of severe with the Palestinian Authority, the Foreign flats. Moreover, they are waiting who is on the lookout for afford- opinion on halting settlement activities and weather, and provided $16m through Qatar Minister said, adding that Qatar provided for the rents to rise. able housing, he added. implementation of all resolutions to achieve Red Crescent, in addition to $6m given to $150m to support the Palestinian Authority They don’t want problems like “There is no official monitor- peace. This, he said, will only be achieved UNRWA to alleviate the sufferings of victims and $450m for reconstruction projects in Gaza delayed rent payments and has- ing. Such brokers are operating through the establishment of an independent of the aggression, Al Attiyah said. Strip with a total of $769m until 2014. sles like collecting rents from without fear.” Ahmed Jolo, head Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. He added that $60m were given by Qatar “The participants pledged approximately individual users. “Also, when you of Qatar Engineers’ Association, Since 2012, Qatar has been contributing gen- for paying salaries of Palestinian staff in coor- $5.4bn,” said Norwegian Foreign Minister are striking a deal with a big told the daily that he agreed erously to all international efforts to rebuild dination with the Palestinian Authority and Boerge Brende, reading out a closing state- company, it could be for longer building owners preferring com- the Gaza Strip and has implemented projects the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle ment at the conference which Norway periods, of up to three years, for panies as tenants was not a good in health and education and provided fuel for East Peace Process. Another $60m for fuel to co-hosted. AGENCIES instance, and the rents could be sign and that was further pushing power plants, the Minister pointed out. generate electricity was given in coordination See also page 7 had in lump sum,” said Al Dosri. up rents. THE PENINSULA Destruction in Kobane GCC studying unified 71-year-old Qatari contracts tourist visa for expats MERS after DOHA: Expatriates in Gulf And this has inspired the Cooperation Council (GCC) member-states to think in terms visiting Saudi countries may soon be able to of taking fresh initiatives jointly travel across the region after for tourism promotion. DOHA: The Supreme Council the introduction of a unified The GCC states first thought of Health (SCH) yesterday con- tourist visa system. of promoting regional tourism in firmed a new MERS-Middle A proposal to issue common 2002 and, in fact, set up a tour- East Respiratory Syndrome- tourist visa to expatriates for ism cooperation committee at case in Qatar, the first reported GCC countries other than the one the time. this year, after a gap of more where they and their families are The meeting in Kuwait is than 10 months. based is on the agenda of a minis- being organised by the Ministry A 71-year-old Qatari has tested terial meeting. of Trade and Industry and it is positive for the deadly virus, also The meeting of tourism min- likely the progress the committee known as Corona, SCH said. This isters of the GCC states is slated has made till date may come up takes the total number of MERS to be held in Kuwait tomorrow, for a debate at this forum. cases in Qatar to 10. Seven Qataris Qatar News Agency (QNA) It was recently decided that to and three expatriates have been reported yesterday. promote regional tourism, GCC infected until now. Of them three The idea behind easing the ministers-in-charge of tourism Qataris and two expatriates died. mobility of expatriates within promotion must meet regularly. The last MERS case in the region strictly for visits is to According to QNA, the Kuwait the country was reported in help boost intra-GCC tourism in meeting is being held in this con- November last year, involving a a big way. text. It is possible the meeting 61-year-old expatriate. Intra-GCC tourism has grown may also discuss the unified laws In the latest case, the victim substantially, generating big reve- needed if regional efforts to boost Smoke rises after a strike on the Syrian town of Ain Al Arab, known as Kobane by the Kurds, as seen from developed the symptoms when he nues for member-countries, since tourism are required. the Turkish-Syrian border, in the southeastern village of Mursitpinar, Sanliurfa province, yesterday. Kurds are was on a visit to Saudi Arabia. the onset of the Arab Spring. THE PENINSULA furious that Turkey has not intervened to defend the mainly Kurdish Syrian border town from Islamic State He was travelling by road to Al Ahsa city, in a northern province jihadists. See also page 10 of Saudi Arabia, when he fell ill and had to be hospitalised, the SCH said in a statement. The patient was transferred to Qatar by air ambulance and was Texas health worker first to contract Ebola on US soil quarantined according to the national protocol of MERS CoV. WASHINGTON: A Texas The news deals a blow to glo- any further spread into the com- said that federal authorities should bring about panic,” said Dallas The case was confirmed after health care worker has become bal efforts to stem the epidemic, munity surrounding the Dallas take “immediate additional steps” County Judge Clay Jenkins. tests at the national reference the first person to contract which has already claimed more hospital “can be prevented with to make sure hospitals were ready But Dan Varga, the chief laboratory in Doha. The patient Ebola on American soil, author- than 4,000 lives, most of them in proper public health measures.” to follow protocols designed for clinical officer for Texas Health remains in hospital, added the ities confirmed yesterday, the hard-hit West African coun- Earlier, the agency’s chief Ebola patients, according to the Resources, said the woman “was statement. sparking jitters that safety pre- tries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Thomas Frieden said it was clear White House. following full CDC precautions” The Rapid Response Team of cautions taken by medical staff Leone.