GAZA APPEAL AVOIDS POLEMICS, STRESSES NEED FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L GENEVA 000097


E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2019
TAGS: PREF PREL EAID KPAL IS
SUBJECT: GAZA APPEAL AVOIDS POLEMICS, STRESSES NEED FOR
OPEN BORDERS

Classified By: Mark C. Storella, Charge d'Affaires a.i., reasons 1.4 b
and d.


1. (C) Summary: The February 2 launch of the UN's Flash
Appeal for Gaza remained focused on humanitarian issues and
largely avoided sensitive political issues. Most of the
language from an early draft of the appeal that had raised
concerns about inserting political issues into humanitarian
coordination had been either removed or edited by the UN
before the meeting and the GOI rep there had instructions not
to intervene so as not to further politicize matters. There
was a drumbeat of calls by both the UN speakers and donors
for opening the Gaza borders to allow both humanitarian and
other items into Gaza to facilitate not only humanitarian
relief, but economic recovery and reconstruction as well.
Meeting Chair UN U/SYG John Holmes read a carefully worded
statement on the need to separate humanitarian relief from
political considerations, leading the UN to engage all
parties in Gaza to ensure that there is no political
interference or diversion of assistance. The US intervention
was warmly welcomed by Holmes and other UN officials. End
summary.

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Political Language in a Humanitarian Appeal
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2. (C) The initial draft of the Flash Appeal included a
number of elements that seemed to be political in nature and
exceeding the mandate of its author, the Office of the
Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),which is tasked
to coordinate and prioritize humanitarian programs across UN
agencies and help raise funds for them. Examples were a
proposed project to investigate violations of International
Humanitarian Law during the Gaza conflict, and speculative
language about the intentions of a post-election government
in Israel. US Mission Geneva raised concerns with OCHA
Geneva and we understand that Israeli PermRep Yaar worked
directly with UN SYG Ban Ki Moon's staff to request changes
to the text. In the end, most of the language of concern was
excised from the final version of the appeal. One reference
to the use of white phosphorous remained, though it was
rewritten to sound less definitive, mentioning "shelling,
reported by UNRWA to include white phosphorous shells." We
spoke with Walid Abu-Haya, who was the Israeli Mission's sole
representative at the meeting. He reported that the GOI was
pleased overall with the changes in the text. He noted that
the white phosphorous language was better but not gone. He
had been instructed not to make an intervention at the
meeting, however, so as not to politicize matters further.


3. (U) U/SYG John Holmes chaired the meeting and set the tone
by putting a great stress on the need for free movement
across border crossings for both humanitarian relief and
normal economic life. This plea for opening the borders was
echoed by all other invited speakers, as well as nearly every
country intervention. Other speakers were Palestinian
Authority Minister of Health Fathi Abu Moghli, UNRWA
Commissioner General Karen Abu Zayd, UN Dep. Special
Coordinator for the OT Maxwell Gaylard and Islamic Relief
Worldwide Executive Director Saleh Saeed.


4. (U) Holmes read a carefully worded statement that seemed
to indicate that the UN would deal with the de-facto
authorities in Gaza, at least to ensure proper delivery of
humanitarian assistance. He said, "The second condition is
that meeting immediate needs should be kept separate from
political considerations. The United Nations will engage all
parties in Gaza, including the Palestinian Authority, Israel
and those in control on the ground, to try to ensure that
there is no political interference in the movement or
distribution of humanitarian assistance, and no diversion of
it. We are, for example, exploring ways to strengthen audit
and control over the delivery of aid to ensure that it
reaches the intended beneficiaries."

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Country Interventions
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5. (U) While a number of Arab countries intervened in the
session, only Algeria was openly political in its rhetoric,
refering to barbaric acts, wounding, maiming, stunting, etc.
Egypt stuck to outlining its role in both the political and
humanitarian efforts. Algeria and Qatar both referred to
pledges they had made at the recent Doha summit on Gaza
reconstruction. Algeria said it had pledged $200 million,
while Qatar had pledged $250 million. U/SYG Holmes called on
both of those countries to make at least some of that money
available to immediate humanitarian needs as well.
Interestingly, during the remarks by Islamic Relief's Saeed,
he noted that Islamic countries were considering the creation
of an independent body to oversee their contributions, in
order to avoid mismanagement or politicizing of assistance.
He gave no further explanation and no other countries made
reference to this.


6. (U) The Charge expressed US concerns over the loss of life
and suffering in the Gaza conflict and stressed the need for
a robust international response to the appeal. He
underscored the US commitment to a two-state solution and
called for both a durable ceasefire and expanded and
sustained opening of border crossings. Welcoming the
statement by the Palestinian Minister of Health, the Charge
said that the Palestinian Authority should remain front and
center as we move forward with assistance to Gaza. Finally,
he outlined US assistance to Gaza, both through our regular
contributions to UNRWA, as well as the additional $20.3
million in ERMA funds announced by Special Envoy Mitchell
last week. In response, Holmes called the US statement
"positive and constructive." Following the session, Gaylard
approached the US delegation to say that the intervention had
been "right on the mark."


STORELLA