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Crisis in Gaza and the West Bank Yesterday’s sunshine and rainbows, soaking in the Blue Lagoon and dining on Icelandic lobster were a magical introduction to your beautiful country. I wish I had come long ago, but am delighted to be here now, and am honoured to speak to you about UNRWA and the ongoing crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory. UNRWA is a large organization with a long history, and as you know the Middle East is complex and ever-changing. Let me start with some basic facts about UNRWA before I move on to more timely and pressing issues concerning Palestine refugees and how we at UNRWA view the current situation. UNRWA Education is perhaps the most crucial of UNRWA’s programmes, having assisted Palestine refugees to achieve the highest levels of education in the Middle East since the 1970s and achieving gender equity in our primary schools in the 60’s. Today, we educate half a million primary and preparatory school children, and provide ever more critical technical and vocational training for youth. Health is another important area of focus. The Agency’s 125 health centres deliver primary health-care services that are among the most cost-effective in the world. In addition to these basic services, UNRWA also provides a social safety net for the most vulnerable refugees, offering a range of assistance, including food, shelter repair and temporary work. In times of acute crisis, such as the recent intifada in the occupied Palestinian territory and the conflict in Lebanon, we deliver emergency assistance to those most in need. Some 15 years ago, the Agency began providing micro-credit in the area, and we are now the largest lender in the oPt. Our MMP financing peaked at $18 million in 2004 and has been recently extended to Syria and Jordan. I have painted a rather positive picture, and UNRWA is indeed a lifeline for the refugee community. However, equally as important as the assistance it dispenses, is the symbolic strength of its existence. To the refugees, the Agency is the manifestation of the international community’s commitment and obligation toward them and their future. While UNRWA’s mandate is clearly humanitarian, our work is inherently linked to political developments and a just resolution to the refugee problem. This political dimension permeates the thinking of refugees, of staff and of all regional actors alike, and makes every aspect of UNRWA’s planning and operations a veritable mine-field. UNRWA is also directly affected by policies and events in the region. Our operations are frequently disrupted by violent events, and reacting quickly and effectively to provide for those most vulnerable often consumes much of our energies. More frustrating by far, however, is watching the well-being of our beneficiaries decline due simply to political strategies, when at the same time we and our stakeholders are working with limited resources to improve their lives. This is why I find it increasingly necessary to talk about the situation my colleagues and I are seeing in the occupied Palestinian territory. Current crisis I have lived in Gaza now for six and a half years, and am in the unusual and uncomfortable position of witnessing first-hand the ongoing assault on humanity taking place there. I see more and more children without shoes—grown out of their old ones and cannot afford new. Our school canteens are being forced to close because children cannot afford the few shekels it takes to purchase a pencil or a snack. We’ve all seen children play “war,” but I have seen them play “funeral”. This chilling scene was complete with a procession of children carrying a small boy playing the body of the “martyr” accompanied by girls wailing loudly as acted as mourners, and boys firing imaginary rifles in solemn salute. I leave it to you to imagine what this “funeral scene” might say about how the dire conditions of today are shaping the lives of these children. At the same time, schools put on hours long performances of songs and dances and human rights plays, demonstrating their resilience in the midst of a deteriorating environment. I have a particularly striking example of hardship that I think Icelanders will relate to readily. Take the fishermen in Gaza. Gaza’s dominant geographical feature is 45 km of beach, so naturally fishing is one of its most vital industries. On good days the colourful fleets of fishing craft return at dawn and fill the market across the street from my apartment with all sorts of catch from shrimp so fresh they still wiggle, to the highly valued grouper. The fishermen are proud and hard-working and their income is crucial to the well-being of tens of thousands of Gazans. I said industry, but it can hardly be called an industry because the Israelis restrict the boat size to a few metres and the distance allowed from the coast to one km. The IDF patrols even these limited waters, not hesitating to fire upon any boat behaving suspiciously, which could be simply moving quickly or in an irregular manner. Shooting incidents have been many over the past few years, and deaths frequent, but the fishermen have incorporated this as a modern hazard of the profession they learned from their fathers and grandfathers. However, the fishermen are no longer doing much fishing. Some now clean beaches as part of UNRWA’s job creation programme, and while they are grateful to have this income, cleaning would normally be quite demeaning to their status as fisherman. They cannot fish, because since the abduction of the Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit on 25 June 2006, Israel has forbidden the movement of all boats off the Gaza coast. Those that defy the ban, and there are quite a few, risk their lives. Two sardine seasons a year represent 90% of the fishermen’s income. The first sardine season lasts from April to June. If unable to fish during this time, the economic effects will be devastating. This story can be repeated in some form for every area of economic enterprise. The highly lucrative Gaza strawberries, now in season, cannot be exported and the once fast-growing garment industry has dwindled from 35,000 workers in 2000 to less than 5,000 due to inability to freely move goods out of Gaza. WB also in crisis. Women and the crisis While the cause of women’s rights historically has been of secondary concern in the wider Palestinian national struggle, important advances were made, particularly in the late 1980s and 1990s as Palestinian civil society blossomed and the Palestinian Authority was created. Women fought for and obtained wider opportunities in community affairs and governance. Nearly 50% of voters are now women and the Central Election Commission has instituted a quota system for local elections and decreed that a minimum of two women must represent each district. The current crisis has precipitated a not only a severe setback, but has thrown Palestinian women and girls in Gaza into a new Dark Age. The breakdown of institutions means that women’s role in public spheres is increasingly restricted. Young women and girls are disempowered by the male members of their households, prevented from entering the labour force or even moving freely outside of their homes. The lack of law enforcement means that abuses perpetrated against women are on the rise because they go unpunished. A sharp rise in the incidence of domestic violence and gender-based violence is directly correlated to rising political violence and the crisis of the unemployed male breadwinner. Honour killings, once a rarity in Palestinian society, are on the rise. In this context, UNRWA’s programmes become a life-line for women and girls, providing education, community activities, psycho-social counselling, legal advice, skills training and emergency assistance. It is by no means enough to counter the reversals in the women’s struggle precipitated by an increasingly restrictive occupation, by economic strangulation and by social disintegration. The dramatic backslide of Palestinian women will be arrested only by the promotion of peace, stability, human rights and development. UNRWA within the crisis Political imperatives But it is not just those of us in the region who must act on the basis of reality rather than wishful thinking. The international community cannot be blind to the fact that Palestinians in the oPt are being systematically impoverished and isolated by expropriation of land; by the effects of the barrier including the sealing off of Jerusalem; and other closure policies of the occupation. Violations of international law are depriving Palestinians of the protections due to them. The right to life and freedom from arbitrary arrest are frequently violated. The peace process cannot resume unless these policies are halted. The failure of states and other actors to respect and comply with international humanitarian law and human rights law is the cause of high numbers of deaths and injuries among civilians in the oPt. A consistent and strong stance against violators of IHL has been conspicuously missing. It is imperative for all of us to take concrete steps to call the concerned states and actors to account under relevant provisions of international law. To do otherwise is to abdicate a constructive role, to ensure the continuation conflict and misery, and to encourage extremism and desperation. You may wish to consider that beneath the headlines, statistics and dramatic fatalities, there is a striking historical continuity in the systematic approach to use overwhelming and disproportionate force in the name of security; to separate and exclude Palestinians from the mainstream; to eject them from their land; and to occupy Palestinian land. To segregate; to exclude; to eject and to occupy: that was the sequence of events in 1948. The very same sequence defines Palestinian reality today. I see in these parallels a dire warning. The pattern of repression has persisted for decades because it serves powerful interests that are still very much with us today. If we continue to languish in our apathy and failure to act, it is easy to predict, the future will hold more of the same horrors for the people of Palestine. I also see in these parallels a stern admonition to the international community. The Palestinian quest for statehood is just. That quest is recognized in international law and demanded by all precepts of fairness and humanity. As an international community, we have pledged, in UN resolutions and various other ways, to support the people of Palestine in their quest. Although we have precious little to show for the 59 years that have elapsed, the Palestinian cause is not a lost cause. My staff and I can attest to that. We are particularly well aware of the potential of Palestinian youth of today. In December we invited a number of young men and women from all our fields of operation to participate in our annual meeting with hosts and donor countries. Palestinian youth still maintain the highest hopes for their futures. They are educated, articulate, savvy, and are open in their thinking that is in many ways broader and more flexible than that of their parents. They speak English, they surf the internet; they are an integral part of the new ‘global’ generation. But this is a fragile asset. We also see so many young people, particularly in Gaza who believe they have no future and become lost in the attraction to violent solutions. It is not only the Palestinian Authority’s role to curb violence, it is ours as well. And we can do this by supporting their dreams, by acting against the realities that threaten to ruin their lives, by seeing and assessing the whole picture. An area where urgent action is imperative is in the easing of access. In November 2005, agreement was reached on a number of actions to ease the stranglehold on the Palestinian economy. The Agreement on Movement and Access included commitments to facilitate movement of people ad goods between the West Bank and Gaza and between the occupied territory and Israel, to keeping border crossings open, to removing checkpoints in the West Bank and to continuing discussions on re-opening an international airport and seaport in Gaza. Unfortunately, this agreement has been largely ignored. Despite this apparent failure, the tangible measures to which the parties agreed could be an important basis for further engaging them on practical steps that could bring significant relief to the Palestinians and their economy. While the discourse on the rights of Palestinians has not been entirely absent, it has not been accorded the centrality it deserves. We must remedy this. I would highlight the fact that – as intended by the drafters of human rights instruments who were themselves representatives of states – respect for the human rights of Palestinians is compatible with the security of any state. No argument of state security can in and of itself justify violations. And no state that habitually violates human rights can possibly feel secure. Greater focus on individual rights would draw attention to our obligations to protect Palestinians in the present, pending a just resolution of their plight. It often seems to me that the emphasis on comprehensive solutions at some indeterminate future time tends – somewhat perversely – to deflect attention from contemporary assistance and protection needs. Prospects for a peaceful settlement are dimmed in an atmosphere poisoned by sustained violations of human rights. By the same token, promoting the protection of Palestine refugees can help create an environment conducive to a political settlement. Giving a central place to rights and entitlements could also expand the range of international mechanisms that could be brought constructively to bear on the Palestinian issue. Fact-finding missions, such as those aborted after the tragic bombing of Beit Hanoun last November, are a potentially effective method of establishing facts and filling evidentiary gaps that often appear when violations occur. Another option is to empower a resident fact-finding body to document violations more systematically with a view to advising on possible lines of accountability under international law. This could lay the foundation for ultimately invoking international juridical processes together with the weight of international public opinion to discourage, if not prevent, further violations. We should be under no illusion, however, that establishing such a body would be easy. There has never been a better time for the United Nations to invoke the ideals of the Charter and to heed the call for leadership founded on respect for humanity and the rule of international law. The prevailing conditions in the oPt are grotesque monuments to the tragic futility of the resort to force. The international community made a promise to the people of Palestine almost 60 years ago. My plea is that we can and must seize the opportunities that exist at the present time to fulfill this promise. The possibilities for a just peace lie in our hands. Karen Koning AbuZayd
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