FCNL co-hosted a briefing with AFSC on December 9, 2015 on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and what steps Congress can do to de-escalate tensions.
The speakers included FCNL and AFSC staff who recently returned from Israel and Palestine including: Raed Jarrar, Government Relations Manager at AFSC, Kate Gould, Legislative Representative for Middle East Policy at FCNL, and Wardah Khalid Middle East Policy Analyst at FCNL.
Below is an excerpt of the remarks delivered at the briefing.
Kate Gould’s Remarks on Gaza
The Effect of Wars in Gaza
Everywhere you look in Gaza, you can see the impact of the blockade and the war of 2014. Being there, it was very easy to see why the UN predicts that Gaza will become uninhabitable within 5 years, if the blockade isn’t lifted. This is in part because of how the blockade and recent wars have devastated the infrastructure essential for stable access to electricity, clean drinking water, and functioning sewage systems—not to mention a functioning economy, in what is already one of the most densely populated areas of the planet.
Any child older than six in Gaza has already experienced 3 wars. Some of those children have lost family members or homes in every one of those wars.
The war in the summer of 2014 was especially devastating. Those 50 days saw the highest death toll in Gaza since at least 1967. During the 2014 war, 2,205 Palestinians were killed, including at least 1,483 civilians, of which 521 were children and 238 were women. 71 Israelis were killed including 66 Israeli soldiers, a security coordinator, and 4 Israeli civilians. One Thai worker living in Israel was also killed.
Rubble and Destruction
The rubble from that war is everywhere in Gaza. More than 18K homes were entirely or partially destroyed, leaving 108K people homeless, about 100K of whom are still displaced. To date, UNRWA—the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees—has only been able to rebuild one of the homes that was entirely destroyed in the 2014 war.
But that doesn’t stop people from working to rebuild, which is one of the first things we saw when we got to Gaza. To get to Gaza you go walk through this labyrinth of metal corridors at the Israeli checkpoint called Erez, and eventually you get to a door in the long wall that separates Gaza from Israel. And you walk through a caged walkway that extends for a kilometer, then the first thing you see when you look out through the bars of the cage are boys and young men picking up rubble along the wall with Israel, and they take it in donkey carts like these, and bring it to makeshift rubble compressors like these to use for reconstruction—since rubble is about all that most Palestinians in Gaza have for rebuilding their homes. It’s also a form of employment in Gaza—which suffers from the highest unemployment rate in the world.
Since 2007, Israel has banned most construction materials from entering Gaza. This is one aspect of the land, air and sea closure that Israel imposed when Hamas seized power. Israel declared Gaza a “hostile entity” and started using mathematical formulas to calculate the minimum amount of calories that Gaza residents would need to consume to allow for survival. Since then, Israel has only allowed UN and other select international agencies to bring in limited quantities of construction materials to Gaza, saying that these construction materials would be used by Hamas to build tunnels to Egypt and Israel for weapons smuggling and other military purposes.
It’s true that Hamas does use construction materials to build tunnels. But any material that you can use to build a house can also be used to build a tunnel. Banning reconstruction materials won’t stop the tunnels—in fact when the blockade was at its most restrictive in early 2010, that was the tunnel economy–both for civilian goods and for military purposes, was at its height. There needs to be a solution to the tunnel issue, but preventing 1.8 million people from being able to access shelter is not a solution. Preventing civilians from being able to rebuild is collective punishment, as various human rights organizations have noted.
As some Israeli military officials have pointed out, Hamas also used clay bricks to build tunnels. They also get goods through the black market, so for Hamas and others who want to dig—that’s not going to stop because Israel bans construction materials from entering Gaza. But banning or restricting reconstruction materials will stop Gaza from being able to rebuild. Oxfam has estimated that if the current restrictions on reconstruction materials continue, it will take 17 years for Gaza to rebuild from the 2014 war. So that means 2032, 12 years after the UN predicts it will become uninhabitable.
Case Study: Mohammed Abu Dagr
One of those groups that are able to bring in some reconstruction materials is Catholic Relief Services. We spent a day with them in Gaza, and they showed us their project to build transitional shelters for people who lost their homes during the war.
This is one of the beneficiaries of these temporary shelters. His name is Mohammed Hassan Abu Daga. Those are Mohammed’s children standing on the pile of what was once their family’s home, which was destroyed by an Israeli air strike during the war of 2014. This shows the devastation of Mohammed’s neighborhood during the 2014 war.
But like so many of these families who lost their home during the war, Mohammed suffered such great losses besides only his home.
But like so many of these families who lost their home during the war, Mohammed suffered such great losses besides only his home. During the war, Mohammed’s nephew was grievously injured by an Israeli air strike. So the Jordanian government took the extraordinary step of choosing his nephew and a handful of other critically injured Palestinians in Gaza to be picked up by a Jordanian helicopter and taken to a hospital in Amman, in a remarkable attempt to save their lives.
Mohammed got special permission by Israel and the Jordanian government to accompany his nephew. Now this is truly an exceptional circumstance—precious few Palestinians in Gaza can expect to ever be able to leave Gaza, let alone be carried out by a Jordanian helicopter. Very clearly, neither Israel nor Jordan saw him as a security threat in any respect.
But before he and his nephew took off, his family wanted to say goodbye. So his mother, brothers and nephews piled into a taxi to see them off. But the taxi was attacked by a fighter jet, and his mother, brothers and nephews were all killed on the spot.
Catholic Relief Services Transitional Shelters
And after all that, he finds out his home, everything he owns was bombed to pieces. Fortunately, he was selected as one of the beneficiaries for CRS’ transitional shelter, so he and has family finally have a roof over their heads.
Israel doesn’t allow CRS to bring cement in for these temporary structures, so CRS makes these transitional shelters out of wood. This spring they were allowed to use wood under 5 centimeters thick. So CRS would cut wood planks in half to get through the border with Israel, and then glue them back together in Gaza.
“As long as the economic problems of Gaza remain unresolved, there remains potential for another bout of fighting, regardless of the level of deterrence we achieved in the previous conflict,” he said.
But in August, Israel banned wood planks over 1 centimeter thick, which isn’t usable for construction. Given this blanket ban on usable wood entering Gaza, now CRS has stopped asking for donor money for this project, because they are going to run out of their wood soon.
Banning wood won’t stop the tunnels — but it forces thousands of people to sleep on the rubble of their bombed out homes.
Now again, Israeli officials have said that the lumber could be used by Hamas for tunnels. But CRS monitors the lumber and other materials used every step of the way to ensure that they aren’t diverted for other purposes. Again, banning wood won’t stop the tunnels, but it could stop thousands of men, women and children from being able to have a future where they don’t have to continue to sleep on the rubble of their bombed out homes.
It is noteworthy that senior Israeli political and security figures have also reportedly said that recovery in Gaza is crucial for regional stability. On the one year anniversary of the war, a panel of senior IDF officers called on the Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to allow for more reconstruction materials to be allowed into Gaza. One of the top IDF officers told the panel:
“As long as the economic problems of Gaza remain unresolved, there remains potential for another bout of fighting, regardless of the level of deterrence we achieved in the previous conflict,” he said.
On the wood issue in particular, some Israeli officials have also recognized that wood is crucial for Gaza’s recovery. In fact, Israel made a big announcement in September that Gaza would be allowed, for the first time since 2007, to export furniture to sell in Israel. The Israeli military touted this as important for allowing some economic recovery in Gaza.
Of course, people we talked to in Gaza about it took it as a cruel joke—how could they sell furniture to Israel when Israel banned Gaza from being able to get wood from the outside world. Gaza once had a thriving furniture sector, but if this ban on wood continues, the small furniture industry that remains in Gaza—one of the few manufacturing industries left—will entirely collapse.
Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization, has written a comprehensive letter to Israeli military officials on this matter, calling for Israel to lift the blanket ban on wood planks into Gaza.
“Almost every resident of Gaza is harmed by the impact of this decision, including students and teachers who need school furniture, as well as public institutions. As such, the decision constitutes collective punishment of Gaza’s entire population, which is expressly unacceptable under customary international law.”
—Gisha, Israeli Legal Center for Freedom of Movement in a letter to Israeli Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories in a 11/2/2015 letter calling for revoking Israel’s ban on the entrance of wood planks and related materials into the Gaza Strip
Members of Congress can help by sending a letter or making a call to the State Department or Israeli embassy, echoing Gisha’s call for lifting the blanket ban on wood planks. We’re happy with offices on such requests and we have at the back of the table a sample letter that members of Congress can send to Secretary Kerry on this issue.
Of course the ban on wood is just one example of the devastating impact of the blockade on Gaza. Already, Gaza has, according to the World Bank, the blockade has resulted in Gaza having the highest rate of unemployment in the world.
Lifting the ban on wood is an essential first step for allowing Gaza to rebuild, and allowing the next generation to have some modicum of hope for their future.
Wardah Khalid’s Remarks on Susiya
Protecting Susiya from Demolition
Susiya is a historic Palestinian village, located on private Palestinian land in Area C in the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank. It’s home to 350 Palestinians. Israel Civil Administration has been repeatedly demolishing Palestinian homes and displacing villagers since the settlement of Susiya (same name) was established 1983. A settlement outpost was also established in 2002.
Susiya was slated for demolition by the Israeli army in May, even though Susiya’s ownership of its land is recognized. Israeli authorities have said residents lacked permit to construct homes and livestock shelters in first place. Negotiations between the village and the Israeli civil administration (Army) are ongoing over the demolition orders. The Israeli Army has committed to halting demolitions in the village during the negotiations. Susiya’s ultimate fate however, remains uncertain.
Residents have made good faith efforts to establish homes legally through master plans, with help from Rabbis for Human Rights, but they are always rejected. Fatima Nawajeh said: “We wake up every day and look to see if the bulldozer is there,” she said. “We don’t know if this is the day our homes will be destroyed.”
The perilous fate of Susiya sets a dangerous precedent for all of Area C for displacement and land confiscation. On July 16, 2015, John Kirby from the State Dept said “Demolition of this Palestinian village or of parts of it, and evictions of Palestinians from their homes would be harmful and provocative.” So it is in Israel’s security interest as well, to leave them be or will it could further Israel and increase tensions and violence. Solar panels and water towers in Susiya, funded by the various European countries, are also under threat of demolition
There is one success story, however. Negotiations ongoing and international pressure is what has kept Susiya standing so far. This diplomatic effort was led by US and members of Congress like Senator Dianne Feinstein, Reps. Anna Eshoo, Loretta Sanchez, and others sending letters of serious concern to Netanyahu and Kerry.
Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights said: “They should know that international concern led by the U.S. is the reason Susya is still standing, and that Congressional interest has been an important fact in fueling U.S. concern.” But pressure must be kept up until final decision to not destroy is reached.
We met with U.S. consulate in Jerusalem and they said they are watching this carefully but letters from Congress help give the administration space on this.
Asks for Congress
- Enhance implementation of the “Leahy Law” in Israel and Palestine
- Support lifting the ban on wood and other construction materials essential for rebuilding Gaza
- Continue congressional pressure to prevent the demolition of Susiya and surrounding villages
Also, we hope that members of Congress and their staff will visit the West Bank and consider going to Gaza when they visit Israel to see for themselves the situation on the ground and the role the U.S. currently plays in it and how we can leverage our authority to improve the lives of Palestinians & Israelis.