The European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, was optimistic last when she participated in the Board of Peace High-Level Briefing and other events related to the Middle-East conflict on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
The Trump-initiated Board of Peace is supervising the peace and reconstruction process in the devastated Gaza Strip. The EU declined to become a member of the board over disagreement on its statute but is an active partner and shares its goal of implementing the 20-points Gaza Peace plan which was endorsed by the UN under Security Council Resolution 2803.
The transition to the second phase of the peace plan has stalled over disagreement on Hamas’s disarmament and Israel’s phased withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. It is unlikely that the current far-right Israeli government will change its position on the full disarmament of Hamas as a precondition for the start of reconstruction and make any concessions ahead of the elections on 27 October.
The total budget for the reconstruction of Gaza is estimated to over 70 billion US dollars during a 10-years period. Of this amount, 26 billion US dollars are required during the first 18 months in order to restore crucial services and infrastructure.
To address the most urgent needs in the Gaza Strip, Commissioner Šuica met in June with Israel’s Foreign Minister Sa'ar and President Herzog, and Vice-President Al Sheikh and Prime Minister Mustafa of the Palestinian Authority. According to the Commissioner, she agreed with Israel to move forward on the two first-flagship early recovery projects.
“To begin with, we have gathered around 1 billion dollars for early recovery in Gaza,” she said at the Board of Peace meeting in New York (23 September). “And later today I will be signing our first two early recovery projects. One with UNDP on solid waste management, and one with UNICEF on water and sanitation, for a total amount of 50 million dollars.”
For a breakdown of the budget, click here. Both UNDP and UNICEF appear on a list of UN aid organizations coordinated with Israel for operations in Gaza. However, neither the European Commission nor the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed when the two projects will get started.
A Commission spokesperson told The Brussels Times that implementing the projects requires access to Gaza for the operating partners, including staff and goods such as crucial equipment (spare parts, pipes, water tanks, fuel and engine oil, pumps, generators, solar panels, vehicles, tires, chemicals etc.) in order to start the activities at scale.
“We are doing this in alignment with the priorities of the Board of Peace and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) and with clear commitments from Israel to facilitate these projects,” Šuica added. “It is crucial that we coordinate – with the Board of Peace and the NCAG, together with Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”
The NCAG has not yet been allowed by Israel to enter the Gaza Strip to assume civil governance duties there. The thousands of Palestinian police staff that already has been vetted by Israel has been barred from leaving the Gaza Strip to travel abroad for their planned training. These are necessary conditions for removing Hamas from power in the remaining part of Gaza it still controls.
Šuica cautioned that the EU needs to liaise with Israel to convince it to accept Trump’s recent 15-point plan for the disarmament of Hamas and make sure that there is greater access to the Strip for EU’s projects and for humanitarian aid. “In fact, we support NCAG moving to Gaza as soon as possible.”
In her tweet after her meeting with Nickolay Mladenov, the High Representative for Gaza in the Peace of Board, she was more outspoken of the challenges ahead. “Now we need to turn these commitments into results on the ground. Access for staff, equipment and supplies are essential.”
Any progress towards large-scale long-term reconstruction in Gaza and sustainable political solutions will be dependent on the outcome of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Israel. In a transparent move to disenfranchise 20 % of the Israeli electorate, the Central Elections Committee, a political body chaired by a supreme court judge, voted last week to disqualify four Arab parties for alleged support to terrorism and denial of Israel's right to exist.
The Joint List of three parties and the Ra'am party (which in the past participated in "government of change") might receive up 14 mandates according to the opinion polls. Without their support, the opposition in Israel cannot gain an absolute majority and replace Netanyahu’s coalition government. The elections committee has a majority of coalition members but also members of the opposition parties voted for the disqualification, playing into the hands of the current government.
However, the decision is likely to be overturned later this week by the Supreme Court of Justice as has happened in previous occasions. The Commission spokesperson told The Brussels Times that it had noted the committee decision but declined to comment on it as the decision will be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
The foreign affairs council, composed of the foreign ministers in the EU Member States, will convene on 12 October. The issue of sanctions against Israel will again be on the table. The Commission declined also to comment on the proposal to sanction the two most extremist ministers in Israel as “the sanctions discussions are confidential and fully in the hands of the Member States.”
