Scapegoating Hamas doesn’t hide the fact that the UN’s prime concern remains Israel

A report issued this month by the UN — “Gaza: ten years later” — once again reminds us that 2020 is the date by which Gaza is estimated to become unliveable. The date is drawing closer and there is no sign of things getting any better for the Palestinians in the besieged territory. With fresh water and electricity supplies becoming negligible, it is unbelievable that there has been no call for the UN’s passive posturing to be altered in order to put an end to Israel’s repressive violations against Palestinian civilians.

The foreword to the report is written by UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities in the occupied Palestinian Territory, Robert Piper. “The report attempts to update our understanding of where things stand in Gaza in 2017,” he says, while offering a word of warning regarding the structure of the report, which “tries to look past the polemic.” The UN official added that the aim is to review the humanitarian consequences and advocate on behalf of Palestinians in the enclave.

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“Gaza: ten years later”, however, manages to create polemic of its own. Rewriting slivers of Palestinian history with the intent of portraying Hamas as a prime reason for Gaza’s deterioration is polemic. A contradictory approach to the rift between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is to describe the Islamic movement’s insistence that Mahmoud Abbas’s presidential term has expired as “an additional element in the political polarisation.” So does the refusal to recognise the PA’s imposition of certain measures upon Gaza for what they are; punitive. Instead, the report claims that “the PA has undertaken a number of measures, with serious humanitarian consequences, to pressure Hamas into bringing Gaza back under political control of the GNC.” In addition, Israel is mentioned with caution and without the necessary attention which would rightfully portray Gaza’s humanitarian disaster as the direct result of colonialism that it undoubtedly is.

Readers are told that the UN and its affiliated institutions “continue to spare no effort to provide emergency humanitarian assistance.” Here again, despite the fact that Israel controls movements in and out of Gaza, Hamas is depicted as overshadowing the other constraints. Gaza, according to the report, is “beyond the reach of the legitimate Palestinian Authorities.” However, even if allegedly beyond reach, it has not prevented the PA from embarking premeditatedly upon decisions which have exacerbated the already disastrous situation in the enclave, a fact which is barely acknowledged by the international organisation.

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Moreover, the UN document ties the absence of immediate action with the possibility of increased political ramifications. The conclusion states that a continuation of the current circumstances will see the prospects for Palestinian political reconciliation decline, “and thus so will the prospects for peace between Israel and Palestine.” Shifting responsibility remains an imperative for the UN. Palestinians in Gaza are living through the ramifications of colonial oppression yet they also have to suffer the projection of responsibility and accountability despite their status as victims of the political game played at a higher level. The fact that the international community has scapegoated Hamas does not lessen the burden for Palestinians in the enclave; such a conclusion is simply evidence that the prime concern for the outsiders dictating Palestinian lives and deaths remains the security of the colonial state of Israel and, to a lesser extent, the survival of the PA.

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