Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya said during the signing ceremony on Tuesday that Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani raised the budget of aid projects in the Gaza Strip. Premier Haneyya stated that Sheikh Hamad decided to raise the budget of the Qatari projects from 254 million to 400 million dollars. Haneyya explained in the ceremony that the emir agreed to increase the funding of the projects previously reported and to fund new others including the building of residential apartments for ex-detainees and a rehabilitation center for war victims. In a related context, Sheikh Hamad Al Thani visited during his one-day stay the Islamic university of Gaza where he gave a speech in the evening. He started his speech by calling on the Palestinian rivals to end the national division and unite their ranks to face the challenges. "The strong winds of change that are blowing in the Arab world may have marginalized the Palestinian cause politically and in the media, which calls on the Palestinians to work together in order to strengthen the justice of the Palestinian cause in a manner beyond any narrow factional views," the Qatari emir stated. "The historical injustice that has befallen the brothers in Palestine is still a humanitarian catastrophe the international community failed to put an end to it," he underscored. He also hailed the Gaza people for their steadfastness in the face of Israel's aggression and said their fortitude is a source of pride for the Arabs. "The steadfastness of Gaza was the decisive element and taught the delusional people a lesson about the persistence of the believers in justice; the patience of Gaza was also a lesson for the coward people and a reason for the start of the Arab Spring," the emir said. At the end of the ceremony that was held in the Islamic university, premier Ismail Haneyya granted Sheikh Hamad and his wife medals of dedication while the presidency of the university awarded them honorary doctorates. For his part, deputy head of Hamas's political bureau Mousa Abu Marzouk said on his facebook page that the visit of emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Al Thani to Gaza was one of his brave steps and positions towards the Palestinian cause in general and Gaza in particular. Abu Marzouk also said he hoped if head of the Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas came along with Sheikh Hamad during his visit to Gaza. "It would have been good if president Abu Mazen had hastened to visit the Gaza Strip to receive the emir of Qatar and save us time through uniting, ending the division, breaking the blockade and reconstructing Gaza," he stated. For his part, head of the middle east studies center in Jordan Jawad Al-Hamad said the visit of Sheikh Hamad Al Thani to Gaza on Tuesday was a historical step and a turning point in the Arab political attitude towards the international siege imposed on Gaza. Al-Hamad told Quds Press that the visit of Sheikh Hamad to Gaza would be the start of a new Arab lobby that can contitute a pressure force not only to end the siege on Gaza but also to support the Palestinian cause and the Arab interests.