International aid is starting to flow into Lebanon as a three-day-old cease-fire takes hold, but U.S. hopes of winning the peace are plagued by logistical hurdles, political tensions and an absence of cash from Western sources that could ultimately undermine the war-ravaged country's rehabilitation.
The World Food Program, the humanitarian-aid arm of the United Nations, has managed to get some of its first convoys into hard-hit south Lebanon. But the group said its delivery efforts could soon grind to a halt for lack of money: It has raised less than half it says it needs to help roughly one million displaced Lebanese. U.S. aid groups have also struggled to raise money.
The lack of public and private American largess has bred bitterness among some Lebanese officials. Lebanon's interior minister, Ahmad Fatfat, said in a recent interview, "Our people are comparing what the Iranians are doing and the Americans are doing for their friends."
Private groups in the U.S., meanwhile, have raised far larger sums for relief efforts in Israel, where a half million people were displaced by rocket barrages -- though the physical damage was far less extensive than in Lebanon. The United Jewish Communities, comprising 155 Jewish federations across the U.S., has raised more than $187 million since July 17. One member group, the UJA-Federation of New York, raised $20 million in an hour on its first day of fund raising, officials from the group said.
[Excerpt of an article by Jay Solomon and Sally Beatty, The Wall Street Journal]
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