A Deteriorating Situation in Palestine

Palestinians searching for food in the dump in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon, 3 February 2018. Catay / Shutterstock.com

By Ellen Rosser
For the Middle East committee

Trump (Kushner) cut the $350 million US contribution to UNRWA, as well as US money to NGOs that help Palestinians. (Read the Middle East Committee’s earlier eNews article about this decision). Other countries have not replaced all of the missing money, and because of the lack of funding,  the UN World Food Programme has announced cuts in food aid affecting some 190,000 impoverished Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Also, very importantly, the UNWRA schools for the refugee children are now closed.

Because of the US “peace plan” for Palestine, the Palestinians are in significantly worse condition than their usual suffering under the occupation.  

What should WILPF do?

1. A major campaign needs to be launched to require the US to restore its usual funding to UNWRA and to NGOs aiding Palestine.
2. A campaign needs to be launched to remove Hamas from the US terrorist list, where it certainly does not belong. Since the EU High Court just ruled that Hamas is not a terrorist organization, that ruling might help convince the US.  More important are the statements by Israeli generals that when groups in Gaza try to launch Qassam rockets, a Hamas squad is usually there to stop them. An organization that prevents rockets from being fired into Israel is the opposite of terrorist, and the US government should recognize that.   

Does anyone have any contacts in the State Department whom we could convince?  

The moderately good news is that  former army general Benny Gantz is running a strong election campaign for prime minister of Israel, and he wants to end their ruling over another people;  i.e., the two-state solution. Polls are predicting he at least will have a strong block in the Knesset even if he doesn’t win.