MIDEAST: How to Aid Gaza and Not Hamas

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler

JERUSALEM, Mar 2 2009 (IPS) - “There’s no doubt there’s been a huge amount of damage done, including whole sectors of private sector buildings which have been razed to the ground and, in any event, given the numbers of people that have died, I find the conversation about proportionality not really a sensible conversation to have. What we’ve got to do is to find a way of ensuring this doesn’t happen again.” The pointed comment came from former British prime minister Tony Blair, special international envoy to the Middle East, during his first visit to Gaza after Israel’s offensive against Hamas.

We hear those kinds of statements from visiting dignitaries all the time, say Palestinians – officials and people who lost their homes during the Israeli attacks – but we see nothing substantial to change our lives.

Blair is aware of such scepticism. Calling on Israel to end its siege on the territory, he added during his visit Sunday, “The idea of blockading Gaza is not sensible either. Ordinary Gazan businesspeople, people from civic society and voluntary organisations have suffered terribly not getting the materials through that they need, not being able to start or grow any business.”

According to UN sources, more than 20,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged during Israel’s three-week military operation. However, all but essential supplies are still subject to Israeli blockades at the crossing points into Gaza.

Blair’s visit to Gaza came a day before international donors from 75 countries assembled Monday morning in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh where they are expected to pledge billions of dollars to rebuild Gaza. Palestinian Authority sources reveal that the PA will ask for 2.7 billion dollars from the donor nations – 1.326 billion dollars for the re-building of Gaza over a two-year period and 1.415 billion to support the annual PA budget.

A top EU official, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, called for the unconditional opening of Gaza’s borders, but interviewed by the Associated Press, she was unclear on what steps are needed to ensure that that indeed happens. As Blair suggested, the donors are aware that their intention to pledge large amounts of aid is no simple matter and could unmask several current complexities in the troubled Palestinian-Israeli relationship.

President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking before the summit opening, stressed that all aid to Gaza should be channelled through his Palestinian Authority. Many potential donors stress that aid should not be funneled through Hamas, which rules Gaza but which both the U.S. and the EU still formally regard as a terrorist organisation. They want the aid to bypass Hamas and go through existing internationally approved bodies such as the World Bank and various UN organisations. Who will control the aid has thus been the impetus towards reconciliation between Hamas and the PA. Talks between the two began at the end of last week in Cairo. Hamas is not attending the Sharm conference, but Western donors are hoping the Islamist organisation will not only agree to share power with Abbas, but will soften its firm anti-Israel stance.

Then, there is the firm Israeli stance.

In the absence of an agreed Egyptian-mediated truce with Hamas, Israel is preoccupied with continuing rocket fire coming out of Gaza – there were no fewer than seven rockets that landed in southern Israel towns and villages during Sunday – and thus justifies its continuing blockade. Israel is adamant it cannot allow the free flow of supplies for Gaza’s reconstruction, arguing that Hamas would simply hijack the concrete and steel to build bunkers and rockets.

The complicated puzzle to secure both quiet and the conditions for rebuilding Gaza is being given an extra twist by Israel’s prime minister-in-waiting, Benjamin Netanyahu. During recent meetings with visiting foreign leaders, he reportedly voiced “serious reservations” about the structuring of the aid efforts. “Why pour money into Gaza before Hamas ends its rocket fire,” he’s said to have prodded the donors.

An added complication stems from Netanyahu’s own on-the-record position vis-à-vis Hamas. He has repeatedly declared that Israel’s ultimate goal is to eradicate Hamas, while several of his potential senior coalition partners insist there should be no trucking with Hamas at all, even for a ceasefire.

As ever, the way to squaring the diplomacy/ideology/security/aid puzzle goes through Washington. The U.S. has reportedly pledged 900 million dollars to the Palestinians – 600 million dollars to the PA and 300 million for Gaza – and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already made plain to Israeli leaders that the U.S. expects “a greater effort from Israel” to alleviate Gaza’s dire humanitarian crisis.

Clinton will travel directly from Sharm el-Sheikh for talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah. She has a two-fold challenge: first, to convince the outgoing Israeli government of the imperative, before Netanyahu takes over, to conclude immediately a deal that ensures a sustainable ceasefire for the opening of Gaza’s borders so that the aid won’t be futile; and secondly, to ensure that Netanyahu sticks to his word that he will “respect” all previous agreements concluded between Israel and the Palestinians.

A formidable task ahead, and that’s still without picking up the pieces of the battered peace-making process.