The international community should prioritise Palestine’s security

The reconciliation agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas increasingly resembles other political miscalculations which the international community still upholds as significant reference points. As long as Israel and the PA stand to benefit, accolades from the international community will continue, despite the fact that such prominence usually does not bode well for Palestinian citizens.

Upon Hamas returning control of Gaza’s border crossings to the PA, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, issued a statement that is flawed on many counts. Not only does it marginalise Hamas’s major political role in Palestine — it won the 2006 Palestinian elections very convincingly in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, remember — by completely failing to mention the movement, but it also insinuates that the reconciliation agreement constitutes “positive momentum”; assumes that PA control of Gaza’s border crossings is important for addressing Israel’s security concerns; and issues a biased warning against aggression which only targets Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.

“I take this opportunity,” said Mladenov, “to remind all factions in Gaza of the importance of maintaining security and ending militant activities that undermine peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis alike.” There was no mention of militant Israeli activities which underpin the occupation and siege of the coastal territory.

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According to Hamas, the UN official’s comments provided “cover for more Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.” The end result of such statements is indeed what Hamas has described. Yet, there are elements missing from Hamas’s criticism which would shed more light upon the dismissive attitude of the international community towards Palestinians in Gaza.

Placing the security demands of Palestinians and Israelis on an equal footing is wrong; the former are occupied by the latter and it is Palestine which faces an existential threat, not Israel. Palestinian security is jeopardised by Israel’s colonial presence and its repercussions, not least the building of colony-settlements on Palestinian land and frequent military offensives. Hence, there is a greater need to address Palestinian security concerns; this is something that has been ignored by the international community, despite Israel’s military aggression against civilians in Gaza which has resulted in the killing of thousands and wounding of tens of thousands more, as well as destruction on a massive scale.

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Palestinian security concerns should be discussed from a resistance perspective and, for once, international law should be applied robustly rather than cited as an afterthought. The international community has required Palestinians to adapt and offer concessions to the point of rendering themselves defenceless in order to appease Israel. An alternative would be to expose the myth of Israel’s security concerns while asserting the legitimacy of Palestinian rights and demands.

Mladenov also omitted the colonial context from his comments. Apart from the convenience of amalgamating all Palestinian factions in order to generalise “militant activities”, there is no recognition of the threat which Gaza is facing from Israel and the reconciliation agreement. The Ramallah-based PA’s presence in Gaza does not bode well for the enclave, given that its authority is a result of direct, premeditated aggression and it exists solely to protect Israel and its occupation. Palestine’s security is now jeopardised due to the joint efforts of the PA and Israel to eliminate resistance in Gaza primarily by ostracising Hamas from a political process in which the movement is supposed to participate.

International approval is rarely, if ever, a cause for celebration. This is particularly so when there is no concern shown by the international community regarding the consequences of a reconciliation agreement founded upon coercion. PA control over Gaza will result in the Palestinians living there experiencing different forms of vulnerability under the guise of progress, not least because of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s abhorrence of legitimate Palestinian resistance against Israel’s military occupation.

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