Addressing humanitarian concerns in a political vacuum

In launching the Humanitarian Response Plan for Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities made an appeal for $547 million. Robert Piper stressed the implosion faced by Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank due to the illegal Israeli-led blockade, food insecurity and displacement.

The joint press release, which carries statements by Piper and Palestine’s Minister of Social Development, Dr Ibrahim Al-Shaer, is an expression of both awareness and oblivion. The necessary funding will be used to carry out 243 projects by national and international NGOs. Due to the extreme restrictions placed upon Gaza by the blockade, almost 70 per cent of the funding will be directed towards projects within the enclave. Meanwhile, Israel’s macabre colonial creativity will undoubtedly seek ways through which to annihilate any basic needs provisions for Palestinians.

Just the realisation that decades later, appeals are still being launched for initiatives that attempt to address the provision of basic needs for Palestinians should be enough proof for the international community to declare unequivocally that Israel is the culprit in all of this. Yet, statements by Piper and Al-Shaer suggest that Israel is still getting off lightly. Both stressed the importance of “ending occupation” but there was no reference to the military occupation as an active component of Israeli colonisation. This has resulted in extending the separation between Israeli repression and the repercussions enforced upon Palestinians. The second, and perhaps most important observation, is that Israel is not mentioned in the press release, thus achieving complete dissociation between the humanitarian crisis affecting the Palestinians and the political actions by Israel which caused it in the first place.

“Ending occupation is vital to moving forward so that we no longer need to be producing humanitarian appeals like the one being launched today,” said Al-Shaer in the press release published by the UN.

“International support is critical to continue providing relief to vulnerable Palestinians,” added Piper, “but we are just trying to bide time – this humanitarian response must be coupled with bold political action to bring the world’s most protracted protection crisis to a close.” He made a point of stressing that vulnerability.

Both statements are, however, misleading, incomplete and serving colonial purposes. The concept of exploitation echoes throughout; funding projects will continue to preserve Israel’s premeditated repression. However, the international community is enamoured of the convenience created by cycles of dependency, particularly those which are prolonged and therefore serve many converging interests. Given the absence of political will to end Israeli colonialism, it is safe to say that, for the international community, Palestinians constitute a source of reference through which it can postulate and concoct the notion of working towards “ending the conflict” or any variation of such tired rhetoric.

It is not in the interests of the international community to perceive a resilient population. Such an admission would point towards the fact that humanitarian relief is inadequate when considering the various means which Israel has at its disposal to ensure that Palestinian emancipation remains negligible or non-existent. What the press release and subsequent actions have achieved is a continuous degrading of the victims — the Palestinians — at the expense of continuing to shield the perpetrators — the Israelis — from accountability.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.