More middlemen can help Mideast peace process

Hardly a few days had passed after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thought he had led a triumphant genocidal invasion against the Gaza Strip — in which more than 2,100 Palestinians, including about 500 children, were massacred — when virtually everyone blasted Israel for its merciless invasion. The price has been very high for Israel in the weeks following its war and is bound to go much higher unless the right-wing government there succumbs to the verbal lashings from unexpected western sources, even long-time allies.

Several European nations including Sweden, Norway, France and now Britain have come out publicly in support of a state of Palestine — much to the chagrin of the Israeli leadership. In an overwhelming vote (274-12), the UK parliament passed a nonbinding resolution to award diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, an unprecedented step that is bound to have a ripple effect in Western Europe.

Already, the Palestinians have had a surprising endorsement from more than 50 nations at a conference in Cairo last Sunday, with a combined contribution pledge of $5.2 billion (Dh19.12 billion) to rebuild the Gaza Strip, ravaged during the 50-day Israeli war in July-August. The Palestinians were only hoping to receive $4 billion. Surprisingly, the US contribution totalled $118 million to the Gaza Strip and $84 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has been providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees for several decades. The meagre American contribution is hand-tied by the annual budget, suggesting that more donations will be made in the following fiscal year. Qatar, much to the admiration of many in the region and elsewhere, pledged $1 billion to help the tiny coastal area where some two million Palestinians live.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon lambasted Israel during his visit to Gaza this week, pointing out that the destruction caused by Israel was “beyond description”. He went on: “No amount of Security Council sessions, reports or briefings could have prepared me for what I witnessed today.” According to the New York Times, “perhaps anticipating the secretary general’s harsh assessment, Israel on Tuesday allowed the first delivery of building materials across the border into Gaza in a move to signal its support for the reconstruction effort and to deflect international criticism”.

Ban’s visit to Gaza, however, followed a meeting he had with Netanyahu who reportedly complained about Hamas, for allegedly firing at Israel from UN schools in the Strip. But that did not stop Ban, according to the Washington Post, from criticising “Israel’s continued construction of Jewish settlements [colonies] in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which the UN and many countries consider illegal”. The paper added that Ban “also challenged Netanyahu to show ‘leadership’ and make peace with the Palestinians”.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is reportedly once again trying to revive Palestinian-Israeli negotiations apparently for fear that the Palestinian bid, supported by many nations, for a UN deadline to compel Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Territories within three years is gaining international support. It is uncertain whether Kerry can succeed once again in getting the two sides to agree on a formula since they could not earlier this year, primarily because the Obama administration has failed to crack the whip against Israel. The only way that Israel can be compelled to go along is through the curtailing of US financial support. A recent opinion poll, released by the Washington Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, showed that “most Americans (60.7 per cent) believe that the US gives ‘much too much’ or ‘too much’ foreign aid to Israel”. Since 1970, US foreign aid to Israel has grown at an average of 30 per cent per year, it added. The US gives Israel more than $3 billion annually — 9 per cent of the foreign aid budget and the largest amount given to any other country.

The best path that the Palestinians should pursue at this stage of growing international support is to encourage other nations, including some European ones, to participate in the negotiating process between the Israelis and Palestinians alongside the US. After all, the Obama administration is also seeking help from other nations in its effort to eliminate Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant).

George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com