(9 September 2024) Before talking about Gaza, I would like to ask you about the situation in the West Bank, which is coming to a head with massive attacks by the settlers and also by the Israeli Defense Forces. Since you were recently there, how was the situation on the ground?
The West Bank felt like a pressure cooker during my visit in May this year. After the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, that killed 1,200 people, Israel has waged a silent war on Palestinians in the West Bank in order to suppress them and prevent any expression of Palestinian identity or solidarity with Gaza, taking advantage of the media’s focus on Gaza. Palestinians in the West Bank have been subjected to various forms of collective punishment, including extrajudicial killings, mass arrests, military incursions, rising settler attacks, forced displacement, and severe movement and access restrictions. Since 28 August, Israel has intensified its use of lethal force, as it has been conducting large-scale military activities in the West Bank, especially against refugee camps and towns in northern West Bank, involving airstrikes, drones, bulldozers, and ground forces. Israeli forces have also targeted civilian infrastructure in these towns, e.g. dismantling 70% of the streets and infrastructure of Jenin city, and cutting off water, electricity and the internet from Jenin refugee camp, in an effort to displace Palestinians and make the West Bank unlivable so that Palestinians would leave by force or “voluntarily.”
Between 7 October 2023 and 9 September 2024, 674 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and as of mid-August, 1,411 Palestinian children have been injured by live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers. Israel has also intensified its night raids and mass arbitrary detention, and has subjected Palestinian prisoners to horrendous and torturous conditions, including psychological and physical abuse, food and sleep deprivation, overpopulation in cells, and confiscation of personal belongings. Israeli settlers have also increased their attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, taking advantage of the heightened attention on Gaza to appropriate more Palestinian land and displace more Palestinians. As of 9 September 1,350 settler attacks have been documented by UN OCHA since 7 October, causing Palestinian fatalities and injuries as well as destruction to Palestinian property.
Another pillar of Israel’s war on Palestinians in the West Bank has been the creation of an atmosphere of fear by increasing Israeli surveillance of social media content and criminalizing any political content in support of the Gaza Strip. Israel’s key goal is to quell any expressions of a unified Palestinian identity or solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in an effort to fragment the Palestinian society and prevent it from coalescing as a cohesive national movement.
Meanwhile, the absence of any proactive role played by the Palestinian leadership and the lack of a vision to challenge and counteract Israeli policies, has only exacerbated the existing sense of disillusionment and anger with the Palestinian Authority, causing deep political alienation within Palestinian society.
You are an expert at the Carnegie Middle East Center. What information do you have on the current situation in Gaza?
The situation in Gaza is beyond tragic. The ongoing war, which marks Israel’s sixth assault on the strip since it imposed a land, air and sea blockade on Gaza in 2006, is unprecedented in its scale of devastation and civilian casualties. At least 41,226 Palestinians have been killed so far, tens of thousands are buried under the rubble, and more than 20,000 children are missing. And these figures are underestimates as they do not account for deaths from hunger, disease, lack of access to health services, etc. The war on Gaza has also been a war on women: More than 11,200 women have been killed and over a million women and girls struggle with acute food and water shortages, lacking basic sanitation facilities and hygiene products. The dire situation extends to healthcare, with pregnant women deprived of adequate prenatal care and going through traumatic experiences giving birth while being forcibly displaced and having no access to doctors or midwives.
The extent of the destruction in Gaza has also been staggering and has not been seen since World War Two. In the first 200 days of the war, the Israeli military dropped more than 70,000 tons of explosives on the strip and the UN has estimated that it could take up to 15 years to clear the rubble.
The human, social and economic losses of the war are also overwhelming. The devastation of education and health systems; the loss of jobs; the destruction of houses, markets, industries and farmlands; the demolition of water wells and electrical networks; the crisis of food insecurity and public health; and the widespread social trauma triggered by the war—have all rendered Gaza completely unlivable and will all have long-lasting negative impacts for generations to come.
Talks about a ceasefire have been going on for months — without success. What do you think is needed to achieve a ceasefire?
It would require the US to use its leverage to pressure the Netanyahu government to secure a permanent ceasefire deal, including by ending arms exports to Israel. Western states can also play an important role by putting more pressure on Israel to accept a deal that would put an immediate end to the war and release hostages from both sides.
What needs to be done first after the so much needed end of the fighting to prepare for reconstruction?
Palestinians in Gaza should be granted urgent humanitarian relief and access to health services and essential infrastructure, to address their immediate needs. There also needs to be an assessment of the damage across several sectors and the overall needs of the population. This would be followed by robust efforts to mobilize funds to rebuild essential civilian infrastructure in the strip (houses, hospitals, schools, water pipes, etc.) and start reconstruction efforts, while addressing the physical, social, political and economic dimensions.
Who could be the regional and international actors that support the reconstruction?
In principle, Israel, and the US, as a global player and major weapon supplier for Isreal, should be held accountable and pay for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. However, in reality other states, including countries that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Western and European governments, would be funding reconstruction. The key issue, however, is whether these states will meet their pledges, since previous reconstruction efforts were partly hampered by the big gap between donor commitments to reconstruction and actual disbursements. For instance, following the 2014 war, only half of the funding pledges made to Gaza were met by July 2017. To push states to fund reconstruction, it would be important to link reconstruction to a larger political process as this could help overcome the sense of futility that has discouraged states from adequately funding rebuilding in Gaza, given the cycle of destruction and reconstruction that has characterized the strip over the past two decades.
After repeated Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in recent decades with corresponding destruction - how can it be ensured that reconstruction will be sustainable this time?
The only way to ensure the sustainability of reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip and end the recurring cycle of war and rebuilding, is to tie reconstruction to a larger political process that seeks to end Israel’s blockade and occupation, dismantle its apartheid system, and recognize Palestinian rights to self-determination, justice and freedom. Without a political process that addresses the root causes of the problem, reconstruction efforts would remain flawed and constitute temporary fixes to an entrenched political problem.
In this regard, European countries must play an important role as they have a legal responsibility to put pressure on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian land, which was declared unlawful by the International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion on 19 July 2024. European countries must also ensure that Israel abides by the latest resolution adopted by the United National General Assembly, which called on Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories within a year, and they must end all aid that is helping maintain an unlawful occupation.
There are many different ideas about how Gaza should be governed after the war. What is your idea about the future of Gaza? What is realistic?
A unified Palestinian government should govern Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). For that to happen, in the short-run, Palestinians need to rebuild an inclusive political system that represents their interests, unifies the Gaza Strip with the rest of the OPT and paves the way for a new leadership model to govern.