Our 24/7 media age hasn’t eased Gaza’s agony

As long as accountability continues to elude decision-makers, the international community will be as cowardly as ever, writes Charles Fromm

Palestinian men sit at the entrance of their house in Gaza City that was destroyed during the 50 day conflict between Israel and Hamas. Mahmud Hams / AFP Photo

Things are worse than ever eight months after the latest war in the Gaza Strip ended, despite the terms of the ceasefire agreement, which tried to ensure that conditions improve.

Let me paint for you an accurate picture of life in Gaza today.

The people of Gaza are almost entirely physically isolated from the rest of the world, their borders with Egypt and Israel largely closed and the smuggling tunnels, which were used to bring food and goods, destroyed. Entire neighbourhoods still lie in ruin from last summer’s war. The infrastructure is vastly damaged and power cuts are pervasive with electricity available for only part of the day.

Unemployment stands at roughly 43 per cent. Drinking water is in short supply. Tens of thousands displaced by the war are still homeless, many having lived through this past winter in miserable and dangerous conditions. The Gaza Reconstitution Mechanism, a UN-led operation that allows construction materials into Gaza, recently started to work after months of delays. But it still supplies much less than what is needed.

The result is crushing poverty. Gaza’s isolation has not been eased by the fruitless efforts of western diplomats. They have been unable to change the status quo and so traditional livelihoods have become unprofitable. These stipulations were meant to break Gaza out of its morass. But donor pledges are largely unfulfilled and a political paralysis has set in. This is not just in regard to intra-Palestinian unity, but also the details of any long-term agreement with Israel.

A bitter quagmire pervades all aspects of life. Reconstruction inches ahead at a snail’s pace, joblessness is endemic, food insecurity is pervasive and “de-development”, or the rolling back of development levels, has reared its ugly head. If drastic action is not taken, another conflict is all but certain in the near future.

Gaza is well established in the lexicon of the international community and has been the focus of gargantuan development efforts for over a decade. In spite of this, according to the World Bank, economic “growth in the Palestinian territories ... slowed down to less than 2 per cent in 2013, and the economy entered into recession in 2014”.

Driving this slowdown is Gaza’s crippling siege, implemented by Israeli authorities under the guise of security. Acceptance of the siege status quo is the elephant in the room for donor states, NGOs, and UN agencies. While nobody likes to acknowledge this, many aid organisations are legitimising this policy by working under the siege conditions. The only other option would be to reject these parameters but it would mean that organisations would have to cease or greatly scale down operations. This would worsen conditions even more and could lead to even more lives lost.

Working in Gaza for the past few years, I and colleagues at various UN agencies and NGOs regularly came up against such lose-lose scenarios. In such situations, tragically, the lesser evil became a guiding principle.

Even before the last war, Gaza was in dire straits, with 80 per cent of its 1.8 million residents dependent on aid. Many are looking to flee the coastal territory by any means, often at great personal risk. Even Gaza’s elite is seeking to leave. They do not see any future for their children if they stay on. Palestinians are also politically divided, with a consensus government in place only on paper.

The main political parties, Hamas and Fatah, have yet to find a way to reconcile their differences and thereby integrate their respective administrations. Worryingly, Hamas may be losing its tenuous grip on the Strip’s security because it is forced to contend with extreme elements that have recently been gaining ground throughout the region. They also haven’t paid government salaries in months.

The Cairo international conference to fund reconstruction has not helped Gaza much. Many donors remain nervous about pouring millions into reconstruction without any guarantees that they won’t be asked for more money after another conflict. But this is all but certain in the absence of a political solution. Donor fatigue, in other words, has undoubtedly set in.

On Monday, a consortium of international aid organisations working in Gaza released a joint report outlining a viable path out of the dire impasse. They called on Israel to change its blockade policy and for the international community, via the Middle East Quartet, to monitor and implement its removal. One may ask how it’s possible that in this day and age, with global media exposure and international forums to pursue diplomacy, such a blight of human suffering could be allowed to fester?

The answer is simple. As long as political considerations outweigh those of humanity, such unconscionable acts will continue on the world stage – and most of us will look away or scroll past the uncomfortable evidence staring at us from the screens of our computers and phones. There will be hand wringing and anxious appeals, but as long as accountability continues to elude decision-makers, the international community will be as cowardly as ever, its conscience and its credibility stained yet again.

Charles Fromm is a writer and researcher focused on Middle East affairs

On Twitter at @CLFromm