UNRWA Hosts and Donors Meeting – Statement by Lakhdar Brahimi – UNRWA press release

Speech of the Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, former Special Advisor to the Secretary-General at UNRWA Hosts and Donors Meeting

Amman, Jordan
11/12 December 2006

UNRWA has been making a difference in the lives of Palestinian Refugees for nearly 60 years now. Working as it did in the face of enormously challenging circumstances – wars, more displacements, political turmoil and economic and humanitarian disasters – its achievements have been remarkable, particularly in education and health.

Alas, UNRWA’s achievements have not been matched by efforts to find a just and lasting solution to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.

The Israeli – Palestinian conflict is at the heart of today’s tensions in the region and beyond, and the Palestinian refugee problem is at the heart of that conflict. Since World War II, there have been quite a few refugee crises in various parts of the globe, some of them intractable. But I don’t think there is one other instance where a large population was forced to remain in exile for so long, without even a beginning of a solution in sight.

A year ago, at the time of this meeting, there was much talk about building on the perceived opportunities provided by the Israeli ‘disengagement’ from Gaza. Many promises were made by the international community about economic recovery and also about how the UNRWA should position itself to make the greatest impact and to maximize its cooperative efforts with the PLO and the Palestinian Authority.

Look where we are today: instead of economic recovery, that same international community has chosen a policy of boycott of the Palestinian Authority and, by extension, of the Palestinian population and society in all of the occupied Territory: by and name, this is collective punishment. (More about this later).

It is a cruel irony that the focus of international aid at present is on raising money to rebuild what devastating Israeli raids have destroyed – power plants, roads, schools and other infrastructure – the very building blocks of self-sufficiency that were actually made possible with international funds.

Yet no one is held accountable for these destructions and even donors, usually so careful in making sure that the money of their taxpayers is spend effectively, prefer to look the other way.

Meanwhile, destruction continues, and it continues to target houses of innocent families and the world continues to look the other way.

Living amid wanton destruction and violence, the children of Gaza are receiving another education beyond that which UNRWA provides. Naturally, this unsolicited education will not serve those children and their families or the region well.

While Palestinians have always sought better lives abroad, one now feels a palpable sense of hopelessness as all those who have the means to do so are leaving.

And, so, 2006 is not a year of stagnation. It is, alas, a year of regression, a year of political vacuum filled with violence. And a year of violence breeding violence.

Sadly, too, reports on violence inside Palestinian communities are at an all time high – criminality, gangs, factional infighting and even domestic violence.

Community mechanisms and networks are disintegrating rapidly under the stress of forced isolation, particularly in Gaza where the population is literally captive and under siege.

In these circumstances, how can anyone be surprised by a surge of extremism?

The policies adopted by the Quartet, the European Union and for all practical purposes accepted by most, if not all of the Arab States and United Nations following the electoral victory of Hamas, earlier this year have been utterly misguided, to say the least. They amount to harsh collective punishment inflicted on all Palestinians because ‘they did not vote right’.

Just as misguided is the belief that the acceptance of Hamas to enter into talks with President Abbas on a possible Government of National Unity is evidence that the policies of boycott and isolation are working. Everyone conveniently forgets that Hamas offered Fatah such an alliance immediately after the election and it was the leadership of Fatah who rejected that offer outright.

Be that as it may, the National Unity Government remains as elusive as ever and the timid and vague overtures made by the Israeli Government do not constitute an incentive given the long experience Palestinians have of the drastic contrast between Israeli words and deeds. I fear therefore that the present policies are not working and shall not work. The earlier they are given up the better for everyone concerned.

A few days ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair was again in Washington, and for the third time since the invasion of Iraq he told President Bush and other American leaders that the central issue in the Middle East was the dire situation prevailing in Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The first time, in 2003, nobody paid much attention. The second time, during last summer’s visit to Lebanon, Mr. Blair announced he would be visiting the region and he did come, but nothing happened.

The third visit took place just after the Baker-Hamilton Report was made public and the British Prime Minister again announced that he would visit Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories.

It is worth noting that the Baker-Hamilton Report also underlined the centrality of the Palestinian issue. For the first time, a document coming out of Washington actually said that it was also important to address, also specifically, the refugee problem.

And so, would Mr. Blair’s visit, this time around produce anything? Is optimism, however cautious, permissible? If one reads the barrage of hostile comments coming out of various centres of influence in both Washington and Tel Aviv, there is every reason to be more cautious that optimist.

I don’t know how much hope is actually pinned on Mr. Blair’s forthcoming visit inside Palestinian and in particular amongst refugees. I suppose that past experience will have taught them to be skeptical and perhaps even cynical.

But surely if they do not expect much from foreigners, Palestinians in general and refugees in particular have every right to expect much more from their own leaders than they are getting these days.

To be perfectly blunt on this subject, Palestinian as well as their many sympathizers and well wishers around the world look in disbelief at the sorry spectacle of Palestinian leaders and cadres, arguing, quarreling and even fighting while their people are left leaderless in the face of so cruel a fate under occupation.

Granted, the Palestinian Authority does not have the political space, the resources and the freedom of a State and sanctions have taken an enormous toll of what modest capacity does exist.

However, grave problems of bad governance existed well before the present crisis and opportunities to address them have not been ceased. I am talking here about factionalism, corruption and the near total neglect of the real needs and concerns of the Palestinian people.

Indeed, the behaviour of some leaders and cadres stands in sharp contrast with the qualities we all come to admire in Palestinians – resilience, courage, solidarity, generosity, honesty and dignity.

Israeli leadership deserves equally sharp criticism. While claiming to support the principle of a two state solution, Israel continues to do everything to prevent the advent of a Palestinian State. It continues to confiscate land, build settlements, create facts in and around Jerusalem and construct a system of physical separation that John Dugard, the respected South African jurist and Special Rapporteur for Human Rights describes as ‘measurable worse than apartheid’.

If we are looking outside of Palestine, the scene is not much more appealing.

The Arab states seem to have all but abdicated their collective responsibility towards the people of Palestine. They came up with the creative initiative at the Arab Summit in Beirut in the year 2000 when they adopted a proposal made by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to offer Israel peace and full diplomatic relations with all Arab States did not follow up on this initiative with the aggressivity and determination such a complex situation requires. They, on the contrary, seem to ‘leave it now to the United States’.

The role of the United States is of course indispensable and decisive. But there is no reason for the Arab countries to limit their activity to a mere reaction to whatever pronouncements the US may choose to make, whenever they do make them.

Nor should Europe limit itself to the role of an embarrassed and docile follower of the United States. They have much more influence than they recognise having, if they ever choose to use it.

Indeed, there is, from all sides, a deliberate lack of engagement and a depressing shortage of creative ideas. The position of the United States and the European Union and even of the United Nations on Palestinian issues renders their pronouncements on human rights and democracy hollow, if not downright hypocritical.

Think, for example, of the International Court of Justice opinion on the separation wall built on Palestinian land. The Court demanded that the Wall be dismantled and compensations paid to the Palestinians. The General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in support of this ruling. But since then nothing, absolutely nothing, has been done by anyone, anywhere to follow up on the Court’s ruling and the General Assembly Resolution.

This inaction makes a mockery of this pretension that the international community really intends to assume a "responsibility to protect" in favour of communities and nations which are the victims of gross abuse. It is in fact the whole foundation of a rule based international order that is under threat here.

People all over the world are shocked by the manner in which the United States, members of the European Union and even the United Nations reacted to the Palestinian election earlier this year. To express reservation towards a Government and condemn its policies is one thing. To actually inflict harsh, inhuman and indiscriminate punishment on an entire population because "they voted wrong" is beyond the pale: it means that democracy is desirable only when it produces results that satisfy the Western World. What possible good has been achieved by shattering the livelihood and public services of an already impoverished population? Or have the sanctions assured the security of Israel? Of course not.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is more, much more than can be said, that MUST be said about what is going on at present in Gaza and the West Bank. And also about the living conditions of the refugees in the host countries around Palestine-there are quite a few UNRWA staff members who routinely witness the suffering, the injustice, the humiliations inflicted on Palestinians every day. They can also talk to you at length about the hunger, the cold experienced by those whose crops have been destroyed, those whose homes have been blown up, the fishermen who can fish no more, the farmers who can farm no more, the kids who cannot get to their schools, the sick who cannot get to the hospital, etc, etc.

These UNRWA staffers can also tell you of one of the few developments that offer a glimmer of hope. One of these developments is the action of some Israeli men and women who stand up and speak out in defense of the dignity of the Palestinians as human beings and of their legitimate rights and aspirations as individuals and as a community. This is the human spirit and the sense of common humanity at their very best. They are a precious and rare promise that there shall be a light, one day, at the end of the tunnel.

And last but not least, the UNRWA staffers will tell you of what they do, what their work is. They will speak to you of their successes and achievements. They will tell you of the difficulties they encounter, the challenges they face, the disappointments, the frustrations and at times, the dangers that are part of their daily life.

I feel certain that, at the end of your two days of deliberations, you will leave reassured that UNRWA continues to be the excellent organization it has been throughout the six decades of its existence, and that it remains worthy of your confidence and of your support.

Of course, you are all aware that the Agency is regularly the target of all sorts of accusations. Its detractors claim in particular that UNRWA is, by its very existence, perpetuating the refugee problem. In other words, just get rid of UNRWA and there will be no Palestinian refugee problem. This, naturally, is nonsense and hypocrisy. The reality is rather exactly the opposite: Solve the refugee problem where it should be resolved, that is in the political arena and there will be no need anymore for UNRWA. UNRWA came into existence because the politics of the region and beyond created the refugee problem. The refugee problem continues to exist because the politics of the region and beyond have been unable, so far, to work out a just and viable solution for it. UNRWA exists in – but is not part of – the political failures of the international community in the Middle East. To its credit, UNRWA actually insured that the refugees have retained, generation after generation, their dignity in an acceptable environment of exile and displacement.

Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd has spoken often and eloquently about the "human capital" represented by Palestinian refugees. UNRWA and all those who serve in it have every reason to be proud of their significant contribution to preserve and develop that capital. And it is that human capital that will be a most positive factor in shaping the future Palestinian State in a peaceful and stable Middle East.

Let me say again, ladies and gentlemen, what a great honour it has been for me to join you today and to pay tribute to Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd and all her colleagues and wish them, with your continued support, much success in their dedicated and noble work.

Thank you.