Gaza Needs Trust, Not Just Aid

If Palestinians are able to put together a government of genuine unity, then the international community must recognise it

By Caroline Lucas
Tuesday 3 March 2009 09.00 GMT
Courtesy Of The Guardian

"Are EU taxpayers really happy to pay to reconstruct what US taxpayers have paid to destroy?" This was a typically provocative question from Palestinian political leader Mustafa Barghouti, when I met with him last week, as part of a delegation of European parliament members.

And it's certainly true that, as political leaders gather in Sharm el-Sheikh this week for the conference on the reconstruction of Gaza, their agenda must extend far beyond simply providing more aid, important though that is. The demand for Israeli compensation should be high on their list of priorities. At a very conservative estimate, the EU alone has spent over €50m on Gaza's now devastated infrastructure over the past 10 years, yet in a matter of days, the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, supported by the US, has destroyed much of the EU-funded infrastructure.

But there are other important priorities too, chief among them the urgent lifting of the siege on Gaza. There is little point in donors pledging tonnes more aid if it simply joins that which is already piling up at the border, waiting on an arbitrary decision on whether or not to let it through. Meeting with UN officials in Gaza, our delegation was told that around 750 trucks a day are needed to maintain essential supplies. Currently, Gazans are lucky to see 30. As John Ging, the director of operations at the UN Relief and Works Agency, put it to us, with characteristic directness: "The inhumanity and illegality of the situation is that goods are there to distribute – it's just a question of opening the gates."

Yet, lifting the siege is only the start. The free movement of people, as well as goods, is needed for the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, so that the Palestinian people can be allowed to start rebuilding their economies and communities themselves. That means ending the occupation itself. As many of the Palestinians I met last week told me, what they want more than anything else is not aid, much as it's needed – it's justice.

In direct contradiction to their commitments under recent peace agreements, the Israeli authorities are continuing the expansion of the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and extending the wall still further. Just last Saturday, for example, Palestinians held a general strike as part of their resistance to the planned demolition of 88 homes in the highly sensitive Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, East Jerusalem. The demolitions are seen as a key strategic move in Israel's campaign to consolidate control over occupied areas of the city, and fragmenting the territorial integrity of the West Bank itself. By creating such concrete "facts on the ground", the prospects for a two-state solution are fast becoming a geographical impossibility. And yet, Israel's continued flouting of both the Oslo Accords is met by the international community with impunity.

The EU, in particular, is guilty of the most extraordinary collusion. Although the planned upgrade of EU-Israel relations is now, informally at least, on hold, it beggars belief that many in the council and commission could have thought it was an appropriate step even as recently as the end of December. And what of the EU-Israel Association agreement, which continues to provide Israel with preferential access to EU markets? In spite of the fact that it contains an explicit clause that allows for its suspension in the event of human rights abuses, EU council members refuse even to consider such an act. Meanwhile, we continue to import Israeli military equipment, so that it is now the fourth largest military exporter in the world, surpassing Britain.

After so many years of double standards and hypocrisy, it's not surprising that many Palestinians have lost confidence that the rule of law will ever be applied to their grievances. Yet, following Israel's attack on Gaza, it's more urgent than ever that the international community demonstrates its commitment to an effective and credible accountability mechanism. The setting up of an independent and comprehensive international investigation into breaches of international law during the three-week war is an essential first step. Issues that it would need to cover include whether either side deliberately attacked civilians; whether they acted according to the principle of proportionality; whether prohibited weapons were used; and whether ambulances were attacked, and the treatment and evacuation of the wounded delayed.

The agenda for the Sharm el-Sheik meeting is already long. But there's one further issue it must urgently address, which could potentially have more immediate significance than any of the above. Over the next few weeks, political leaders from around the world have an unprecedented opportunity to promote peace in the region by supporting an emerging process of dialogue and reconciliation between the different Palestinian factions.

At a crucial meeting in Cairo last week, the 14 Palestinian political parties, including both Hamas and Fatah, agreed to put aside their internal struggles, and to work together towards the establishment of a government of national unity. The process is an ambitious one. Between 10 and 13 March, five newly created committees are to decide what form that new government might take, and to agree the reform of the Palestinian security forces, the restructuring of the PLO, the organisation of free, democratic elections no later than 25 January 2010, and the initiation of a programme of reconciliation and prisoner exchanges.

This is a historic moment. As Israel puts in place one of the most rightwing governments in recent years, and as the settlements and separation wall continue to grow, the prospects of a two-state solution are fast receding. The political programme and principles of a new unity government are more important than whether or not Hamas is a member of it. In other words, if the Palestinians are able to put together a government of genuine unity, based on tolerance and pluralism, as well as commitment to previous peace process agreements that include the recognition of Israel, then it is the responsibility of the international community to recognise it.

It was precisely the failure of the EU and US to recognise the last unity government that precipitated much of the chaos and conflict that followed in both the West Bank and Gaza. We cannot afford to make the same mistake again.