open Democracy News Analysis - Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report, Mient Jan Faber Mary Kaldor - Comments

intermedusa on "Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report"

intermedusa — Thu, 31 May 2007 12:02:28 +0100

THE EU AND THE PALESTINIANS

It is absolutely essential that a solution be found to the Israeli � Palestine conflict. This conflict is a cancer that eats away at the Middle East. The EU has an historical opportunity to bring it to an end. Just as the EU brings freedom and democracy - a European future to the Kurds - so to the EU can bring a European future to Israel and Palestine.

The EU offers both Israeli and Palestinians - a Super Special Relationship � all the benefits of membership except a veto power. Businessmen from both countries will enjoy full access to the EU market - the people of both countries - full access to political institutions, technology, educational institutions, funding, employment etc.

In return, the Palestinians must:

1. Recognize Israel.

2. Cease all attacks.

3. Complete all the 35 chapters.

4. Eventually Jews allowed to live in the West Bank.

Israel must:

1. Withdraw all forces from the West Bank.

2. Dismantle all settlements except the 2 large ones adjacent to the wall.

3. Stop all building in Jerusalem Palestinian areas.

4. Allow East Jerusalem to be Palestinian Capital.

5. Complete all 35 chapters.

6. Eventually Palestinians allowed to live in Israel. (quid pro quo basis)

In order to ensure that terrorists do not smuggle 15,000 rockets into West Bank Cities, the EU/Natio and UN send an army of 10,000 to both the West Bank and Gaza Strip to secure the borders. Although the diehards will never give up their aim of destroying Israel � the Palestinian people by joining with Europe are guaranteeing the future of their children. Businessmen can produce goods and services for a market, not of 4 million but of 500 million and a free trade zone of 1.4 /2.4 billion (3 billion with the Middle East Free Trade Zone). With no violence, the Gaza Strip could become a mini Beirut with multi - billion European investments in tourism and hotels. Its future guaranteed. The Palestinians would have to be mad not to jump at this EU OPPORTUNITY. If they do not then screw them. No more money. No more aid. IT�S TIME FOR TOUGH LOVE PALESTINIAN STYLE.

A peace settlement engineered by the EU dramatically alters the war on terror - the relationship between the West and Islam and democracy throughout the Arab world. The EU takes its historical place in World History.

Time for leadership.

Time for historical greatness.

Time for vision.

CONTACT

Larry Houle

E-mail: intermedusa@yahoo.com

A Palestinian on "Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report"

A Palestinian — Fri, 25 May 2007 21:37:12 +0100

I do confirm all the details.But even though, i still believe that we; the palestinians, need alot of support and urgent interventions.Living peacefully is what we seek, not fighting and killing.I think this is one of the simplest rights we don't have, and will never since we are still living in terror and unstability in the sburbs of palestine. Thanks for writing this article.Thank you very much.

Peter H on "Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report"

Peter H — Fri, 25 May 2007 11:55:52 +0100

I stunned by racism of the comments above. It's amazing the lengths people will go to rationalize Israeli oppression & colonialism.

intermedusa on "Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report"

intermedusa — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:06:58 +0100

THE EU AND THE PALESTINIANS

In return, the Palestinians must:

1. Recognize Israel.

2. Cease all attacks.

3. Complete all the 35 chapters.

4. Eventually Jews allowed to live in the West Bank.

Israel must:

1. Withdraw all forces from the West Bank.

2. Dismantle all settlements except the 2 large ones adjacent to the wall.

3. Stop all building in Jerusalem Palestinian areas.

4. Allow East Jerusalem to be Palestinian Capital.

5. Complete all 35 chapters.

6. Eventually Palestinians allowed to live in Israel. (quid pro quo basis)

Time for leadership.

Time for historical greatness.

Time for vision.

CONTACT

Larry Houle

www.eudemocracy.net

bvale01 on "Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report"

bvale01 — Wed, 23 May 2007 07:32:38 +0100

why should israel and israeli's have to live under daily attacks from these palestinian murderers and suicide bombers , backed by iran and syria . when they cant kill jews they kill each other .the palestinians wherever they have gone cause murder and mayhem just look at lebanon now and even when iraq invaded kuwait , it was the palestinians living there that supported the invasion . yet the world expects israel to put up with fatah , hamas , hezbullah attacking them and do nothing .

israel has the right to act to defend its civilians from these murdering palestinians and in fact act in too careful a manner to prevent civilian casualties amongst the palestinians .

israel wants peace but the palestinians , syria , iran and all their terrorists want to destroy israel and jews .

Martin Bloom on "Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report"

Martin Bloom — Wed, 23 May 2007 00:13:47 +0100

How the world forgets! From the Munich Olympics to the suicide bombers, the Palestinians have shown their true colours. How can one blame Israel for taking every possible step to protect its people from these deadly killers?When they were offered a total peace deal (brokered by the Americans), Yasser Arafat rejected it. The whole ethos of Hamas is to continue the violence. Biased articles like this one only serve to promote it.

deborah.gordon on "Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report"

deborah.gordon — Tue, 22 May 2007 20:59:22 +0100

I am happy to tell the reader below what the Palestinians have given to the world. I've personally witnessed their gifts, having lived in Ramallah for a year and having returned many times for stays of ten days to two months. The Palestinians remind the international community and civil society of its failure to meet its own standards. For people who are not accustomed to the idea of self-examination the previous sentence will be meaningless.

mrabmrab on "Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report"

mrabmrab — Mon, 21 May 2007 21:50:18 +0100

I've read intelligent and well-traveled journalists compare Tel Aviv in Israel to Santa Monica, California. There are more than one hundred Israeli companies listed on Wall Street, most of them in the high-tech arena.

And what do the Palestinians produce? What is their gift to the world. Other than terrorism? Other than suicide bombers? Other than launching a daily barrage of missiles into Israel every day of the week, and twice on Saturday? Other than killing themselves in scores over the last few days?

The point is that Islamic terror produces the "occupation" and not the other way around, the occupation being a necessary security step which is only a means of protecting Israelis from slaughter and extinction at the hands of a people who believe the only good Jew is a dead Jew and who are hell-bent in driving all Jews out of the region.

The two authors are living in a parallel universe. It is the Israelis who want to be left alone and live in peace. It is the hate-filled, death-loving Palestinian losers who need to examine their souls.

Palestine's human insecurity: a Gaza report, Mient Jan Faber Mary Kaldor

Mon, 21 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

To enter Gaza from Israel you have to cross at Erez where the Israelis have erected a huge new terminal made of glass, steel and Jerusalem stone (it is actually 1.7 km inside Palestinian territory - even at the moment of withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, the Israelis couldn't resist taking a little bit extra). To get inside the terminal compound, you show your passport at a barrier, then cross a big empty space and enter the terminal. In a glass booth, a pretty Israeli soldier sits high above you, asks severely what you plan to do, and checks your name in the computer.

This is a digest of a report written by Mary Kaldor & Mient Jan Faber for the human-security study group at the Centre for Global Governance, London School of Economics, based on a visit to both parts of the Palestinian territories (Gaza and the West Bank) in 2007

Once through passport control, you follow arrows through several gates that close behind you before the one in front opens. There is nobody to be seen. You come to several turnstiles but only one has a green light. You pass through a corridor with high wire on each side and a steel corrugated roof, then through more turnstiles until you reach an enclosed room with walls on all sides. For a moment you think you must have followed the wrong arrow but all the turnstiles have closed behind you and you can't go back.

There is a not a soul to be seen. You feel all the walls but they seem completely impregnable. And then, mysteriously, one wall slides open. You are through to yet another wired corridor and through yet more turnstiles until, recognisably, you are in a Palestinian corridor with concrete walls and a canvas roof. Suddenly there are people talking very loudly. On the way, you pass two very dirty toilets - the squatting sort. At the end of the corridor there are two small booths - one for women and one for men - where your names are written down by hand in a big book.

Returning is even worse. But the point is made. This, moreover, is how it is experienced by a foreigner: it is far, far worse for Palestinians. The crossing is only one example of the daily harassment and humiliation, the fear and intimidation, which are the consequence of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Very few Palestinians actually succeed in crossing - the names of those who manage the journey each day can all be handwritten on half a page of the book. Among the names on the day we crossed were most of the new (post-Mecca agreement) Palestinian cabinet including the president, Mahmoud Abbas. Permission for cars to cross is almost impossible to obtain and so many Palestinians we saw were dragging bags and trolleys through the long corridors. The loss of dignity is etched on people's faces.

Mient Jan Faber is a mathematician by training, and professor of Citizens' Involvement in War Situations at the Free University in Amsterdam. For many years he worked for the Dutch Interchurch Peace Council (IKV) on civil-society initiatives. He was part of the working group on civil-society's role in relation to terrorism at the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security in March 2005

Also by Mient Jan Faber in openDemocracy:

"Talking to terrorists in Gaza"
(14 February 2005)

The lack of human security for people living in Palestine is, first and foremost, caused by physical insecurity. It is the result both of the occupation and the lack of internal security, which are linked. Restrictions on movement, shelling from afar, periodic Israeli invasions, arrest and imprisonment, crime and gang or factional warfare are all part of the daily life of Palestinians. Palestinians experience economic, environmental and food insecurity as well; but fundamentally, these forms of insecurity cannot be disentangled from the lack of physical security, the situation of fear in which most people live.

The European Union does a lot to alleviate suffering and ease restrictions, through aid and through missions like police training or through the monitors at Rafah on the border with Egypt. But there is a big gap between what is done on the ground and what happens at the political level, through the "quartet" (European Union, United States, Russia and United Nations) and top-down relations with Israel and Palestine. If human security is a guiding principle for what is done on the ground, geopolitics shapes relations at the level of governments - and the consequence is that geopolitics constrains what is done on the ground. The sanctions imposed on Palestine as a consequence of the election of Hamas in January 2006 greatly complicate and indeed subvert local EU efforts. Moreover, the pressure is one-sided; little or no leverage is exerted on Israel.

In what follows, we elaborate this argument by exploring the insecurity in Gaza in more detail, before addressing the role of the international community, especially the European Union.

A state of indignity

Occupation is exercised in different ways. Before the Oslo agreement, occupation was direct and therefore Israeli control was implemented through a range of methods - military, civil (policing), economic and political. Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, occupation is primarily exercised indirectly and from a distance. The use of conventional military in these circumstances entails that resistance is punished collectively rather than (as is the case with civil control) individually.

Mary Kaldor is a professor, and director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, at the London School of Economics

Also by Mary Kaldor in opendemocracy:

"In place of war, open up Iraq"
(13 February 2003)

"Iraq: a war like no other" (27 March 2003)

"Iraq – the democratic option"
(13 November 2003)

"Safe democracy"
(23 December 2004)

"Parallel politics in Iraq" (22 March 2005) – with Yahia Said

"Iraq: the wrong war" (9 June 2005)

"America's Iraq plight: old and new thinking" (13 February 2007)

In Gaza, several people told us that they feel free as a result of the Israeli withdrawal. Nevertheless, they are not free to leave.

The Israelis control all the crossing-points except the one at Rafah, on the border with Egypt. Under an agreement in November 2005, the Rafah crossing was opened on the understanding that a European mission would monitor the border. However the presence of the European monitors is dependent on Israeli permission so Israel continues to exert indirect control. Since 24 June 2006, when an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was kidnapped and two Israeli soldiers killed, the border has been practically closed. It is totally closed 81% of the time. For the remainder of the time, only certain categories of people are allowed to cross. Palestinians with a Palestinian IDs are allowed to cross provided their names have been approved by the Israelis. The other crossings are mostly closed or operate "haphazardly" according to the World Bank (see World Bank Technical Team: Potential Alternatives for Palestine Trade: Developing the Rafah Corridor, 21 March 2007).

The restrictions on movement and access prevent most Palestinians from leaving Gaza and have devastated trading opportunities, which are the main source of income for Gaza. In other words, the narrow Gaza strip is a kind of Palestinian prison-camp in which there are no guards inside the camp.

Israel watches Gaza from the skies and through informers. From time to time - as in the past few days, when alongside infighting between Fatah and Hamas there have been rocket-attacks on the Israeli border-town of Sderot - Israeli forces invade or shell houses. Israel has declared buffer-zones along the border no-go areas, and in them has destroyed houses, uprooted orchards and made land unusable.

Both sides always claim that what they do is retaliation. But the Israeli response is often disproportionate. For example, in response to the abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit on 24 June 2006, Israel four days later bombed and destroyed the Gaza power plant. The lack of electricity meant a significant decline in the level of medical services provided by clinics and hospitals in the strip. The urban population received two-to-three hours of water a day; the sewage system was on the verge of collapse; everyone in Gaza was punished for the behaviour of one group of militants.

The occupation is compounded by the lack of internal security. Indeed, polls show that this is the main security concern of most people living in Gaza. The different official security forces are competing for political power rather than trying to maintain law and order. At the same time, attempts by different sides, supported by outside patrons, to boost official and informal security forces have squeezed one of the main instruments of law and order - the Palestinian civil police. In the vacuum created by the absence of law and order are political factions, criminal gangs and armed families. The latter may consist of tens of thousands of people, using their weapons as a source of income, through protection, or kidnapping or hostage-taking, or merely to ensure the survival of the family.

Gaza is much poorer than the West Bank, with a per-capita income (some $700 per year) at about half. Three quarters of the 1.4 million population of Gaza are refugees. Of these, some 500,000 are living in camps, where the population density (according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East [UNRWA]) is the highest in the world. The last few years have witnessed a decline in manufacturing and construction and a dramatic deterioration of public services, especially education and health. Indeed, the World Bank and the IMF estimate that in the first three quarters of 2006 alone there was a decline of 8%-10% in per-capita GDP in the West Bank and Gaza as a whole (with a steeper decline in Gaza). In addition to the loss of trade, there has been a huge reduction in the number of Palestinians working in Israel; at least half the fall in GDP is attributed to restrictions on movement.

Also in openDemocracy on Gaza, the plight of the Palestinians, and the prospects of diplomacy:

Eyad Sarraj, "The campaign that should never stop"
(13 November 2006)

Khaled Hroub, "Palestine's argument: Mecca and beyond"
(6 March 2007)

Ghassan Khatib, "The Arab League summit: two challenges"
(28 March 2007)

Richard Youngs, "The European Union and Palestine: a new engagement"
(29 March 2007)

Eóin Murray, "Alan Johnston: a reporter in Gaza" (23 April 2007)

Europe's responsibility

The quartet is responsible for high-level negotiations about the political future of Israel and Palestine. It operates within a top-down geopolitical framework laid down in the so-called "roadmap", initiated by the United States, in which the notion of a "global war on terror" is central. The conflict between Israel and Palestine is viewed through this prism. The biggest problem is considered to be terrorist actions, i.e. violence by non-state actors. Rockets and suicide-bombers are regarded as the primary impediment to peace and the occupation is treated primarily as a method of ensuring Israel's security.

This explains why, after the election of Hamas, a boycott was imposed on the Palestinian authority. Despite the fact that the international community had called for elections, and that outside observers certified the elections as free and fair, the US announced that it would blacklist any bank doing business with the Palestinian Authority, which has restricted funds paid into the Arab League bank account by Arab donors. The European Union and the US halted the flow of direct aid to the authority, and Israel withheld some $50-$60 million collected in taxes and duties on its behalf. The quartet imposed three conditions on the new government: non-violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations including the roadmap.

In these conditions, the role of the European Union is potentially crucial. The European Union is the largest aid donor in Palestine and plays an active role through missions like EU-BAM (the Rafah monitors) or EU-COPPS (police training). At the political level, however, it is very weak because it is constrained by its own internal structure and the difficulty of reaching agreement among member-states.

This has constrained its ability to improve the situation in Gaza. The Rafah monitors, for example, are paralysed by Israeli decisions to keep the crossing closed for most of the time. At present they are living in temporary headquarters in Ashkelon in Israel; the military compound constructed for them in Rafah lies empty. Indirect payments by the EU civil servants and social security beneficiaries undermines the authority of the Palestinian Authority, While EU-COPPS is hamstrung by the boycott. Meanwhile the Americans are arming the presidential guard and Iran and Syria are arming the special executive force, established by Hamas, to counter the Fatah-dominated security forces.

There are five things the EU could do to encourage progress - which can be understood as closing the gap between a state perspective and a human perspective:

play a more active and proactive role in the quartet and in the US-sponsored bi-weekly meetings between the two bodies. The EU could, for example, press for a broadening of discussions to human-security concerns and then also to the so-called "destination map", where the final status of a two-state solution will appear

apply the Rafah model (that is, finding ways to ease restrictions on Palestinians while recognising legitimate Israel security concerns) in a more serious way. Comparable improvements in the human-security situations may be possible in northern Gaza (where an international presence, perhaps on the model of Unifil in Lebanon, could protect the local population from Israeli incursions while taking measures to prevent rocket attacks) and in Nablus and other main Palestinian cities (where an international security presence could prevent Israeli incursions while providing an enabling environment for internal security)

give primacy to the establishment of a legitimate political authority in Palestine. This would mean recognising the new government implicitly or explicitly and talking to the government as a whole, not selectively to those members of the government of which they approve, while pressing for a mutual ceasefire and recognition between Israel and Palestine

encourage a more bottom-up approach. Despite the fragmentation and brutalisation of Palestinian society, there is still an active intelligentsia and civil society whose members are more likely to press for democratisation and internal security

focus more broadly on the regional dimension. Saudi Arabia played a critical role in the Mecca agreement, which led to the present government. The Arab League peace initiative could be a fruitful starting point to start serious discussions between Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas on the so-called destination map.

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is in essence a conflict between state security and human security. For most Israelis, state security, i.e.the delimitation of borders, the protection of territory and the preservation of the Jewish character of the state, is crucial. For most Palestinians, human security is the principal concern. Many of them are refugees, living in camps in the occupied territories or neighbouring countries. They are denied freedom of movement, humiliated at checkpoints, facing arbitrary arrest. Understandably, their dream is to return to their homes (to be distinguished from their land) and to live and die in peace. The bridging of the gap between these two realities is fundamental to progress towards a settlement. The European Union could - if it chooses - do much to achieve this historic and essential goal.

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