Gaza: A tolerated humanitarian crisis

IRELAND is unusual among western democracies in its continuing fight to have the plight of the Palestinians addressed.

But getting the world to take action on such an obvious humanitarian issue is very difficult.

Foreign Minister Micheál Martin brought the issue to the heart of the European Union at the weekend when he gave a lengthy report on what he described as medieval siege conditions in Gaza.

Despite lots of United Nations resolutions insisting that Israel respect the civil and human rights of the Palestinians, the issue is paid little more than lip service by national governments.

But Martin is running what could be seen as a one-nation campaign to have something done about what would be considered a humanitarian disaster in any other part of the world.

A number of Irish citizens are playing important roles, with the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza being former Irish army officer John Ging. He brought the deadly reality of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza 14 months ago to the public attention through the media.

Another former Irish army officer, Desmond Travers, has had a central role as a member of the UN’s Goldstone inquiry and subsequent report on the attack on Gaza. The report found that both Israelis and members of the Palestinian Hamas group were guilty of crimes against humanity, the details were a damning indictment of the Israeli policy towards Gaza.

Col Travers and South African judge Richard Goldstone, who is Jewish and led the investigation, have been the target of vicious attacks by Jewish groups seeking to undermine their integrity. Ireland was one of the few smaller European countries to endorse the report in Geneva last October.

Dublin MEP Proinsias de Rossa, chairman of the European Parliament’s group for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council, is asking the Garda Commissioner to investigate war crimes in Gaza as is Ireland’s right under the Geneva Convention, on foot of the request to do so in the Goldstone report.

One of the important international players on the ground, Middle East US envoy George Mitchell, has taken with him many of the lessons he learned in Northern Ireland. This is reflected in the proximity talks he is initiating between the Israelis and Palestinians shortly where he keeps them in separate rooms, and mediates between them.

At the EU’s meeting in Cordoba at the weekend Martin marshalled as much visibility as he could for his Gaza visit and report including an opinion piece in the well-respected International Herald Tribune.

Martin described the impact of the two-and-a-half-year blockade against the people of Gaza. Like most politicians, public figures and members of the public, the minister was refused entry into the strip by Israel, which controls all but one of the entries into the area.

The Egyptians allowed him in through their border where he saw why 80% of the 1.5 million population is living below the poverty line and where malnutrition is on the increase. There is a shortage of food clean water and arable land. The air is so polluted the area is becoming uninhabitable.

Israel refuses to let most funds and aid donated by the international community through. In the meantime, Hamas controls a few tunnels, and makes money through this. Part of the reason for Israel’s action is their objection to Gazans electing members of Hamas.

Martin warned that Gaza is in danger of becoming a “tolerated humanitarian crisis”. The response from his fellow EU foreign ministers suggests that the EU’s new External Action Service will not change this.

The EU’s new foreign chief, Baroness Catherine Ashton, coming close to insulting Martin, said she would have to see the situation in Gaza for herself to decide what the issues were and how to address them.

For the US, their relationship with Israel is priority. As a result, its emphasis is continually on the security of Israel – the reason Israel puts forward for all its actions. Despite being new to the international stage, this was the attitude adopted by Ashton. Commenting on upcoming talks between Israel and the Palestinians she stressed the importance of the Palestinian Authority taking action to increase the security of Israel.

Sweden’s Carl Bildt, had a similar response, shrugging his shoulders when asked what would happen if neither the Israeli’s nor the Egyptians would allow Ashton into Gaza.

The foreign ministers insist that they share a common approach to the Middle East, but admit that the various member states differ in the details so much that the only area they can agree on generally is the need to back the US position.

While EU member states shy away from the humanitarian issues, the European Parliament wants to see them tackled and demanded last month that the Goldstone report be followed up.

The report comes before the Security Council this month. The Obama administration criticised the report, not wanting to stir the ire of powerful Israeli interests in the US when they are pre- paring for next year’s mid-term elections. They will portray George Mitchell’s talks as progress towards agreeing a two-state solution. But as Israeli politicians are not keen on having a Palestinian state as a neighbour, many fear the talks are a delaying tactic, giving time for the humanitarian situation in Gaza to deteriorate, leading to Palestinian violence and an end to dreams of a Palestinian state.