Biden's humanitarian pontoon to Gaza puts the skids under Netanyahu
Israel is the occupying power.Gaza civilians are its responsibility.No ifs no buts.
The decision by US President Joe Biden to establish a humanitarian pontoon on the shores of Gaza to supply food and other necessities to the besieged Palestinian enclave is extraordinary.
It’s unprecedented, imaginative, controversial and risky. With one hand the US is supplying arms and ammunition to its staunch ally, Israel, in its campaign to destroy Hamas. On the other it’s offering to help victims under fire from those very weapons.
Biden has stressed there will be “no American boots” on the ground. But the move will inevitably mean some co-operation with Hamas officials in Gaza on its littoral frontier while the strip’s land border remains under assault by Israel. It will be portrayed, by some, as throwing a lifeline to Hamas while it still holds over 100 hostages.
The immediate motive is to relieve an increasingly desperate situation in Gaza pummelled into a wasteland by Israeli forces. But it’s much more than that. The move sends the strongest signal to Israel that it does not have carte blanche.
The US wants an end to the war and a path to an eventual two-state solution. In all likelihood, it is preparing the ground for a time when Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel Prime Minister and his Far Right religious coalition will be replaced.
David Cameron, the UK Foreign Secretary, has said that Britain will work with the US to set up a maritime humanitarian corridor. People in Gaza, he said, are in desperate humanitarian need.
Humanitarian aid from Israel or for that matter Egypt into Gaza has been sporadic, slow and stingy. Convoys have been held up for days by inspecting Israeli troops. Some supplies, including medical equipment and generators intended for shattered hospitals have been turned back on the grounds that they’re “ dual use” which Hamas might use.
At two or three checkpoints, including the Kerem Shalom crossing close to the border with Egypt, Israeli protestors have sought to block aid convoys going into Gaza. This despite the fact that the crossing has been declared a closed military area forbidden to civilians. UN representatives have accused Israel of systematically obstructing aid.
There has been obstruction from within Netanyahu’s cabinet. Far Right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, announced in mid-February that he was blocking a shipment of flour from the United States, destined for Gaza. He argued that the supplies would be passed on to Hamas by the United Nations agency for refugees (UNWRA) some of whose employees have been accused of taking part in the October 7 attack.
Aid to Gaza has become a political football as Israel’s relentless assault enters its sixth month since the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7.
Some Israelis see providing aid to Gaza’s beleaguered population as a moral abomination. Why would you help your enemy after the terrible things they did? Others, including senior military figures, view doing what they can to keep Gaza’s desperate civilian population alive, as an ethical obligation underpinned by the rules of war.
Haaretz, Israel’s left-of-centre daily, recently quoted an Israeli general in what it described as a “closed discussion” saying: "Of course it's our obligation… if we're now in operational control of an area, we have to make sure those living there have all they need for their basic existence. It's not just our legal obligation but our moral obligation as well.”
Israel’s aid policy towards Gaza since October 7 has been, to say the least, inconsistent. It has changed as the war has gone on depending on the public mood, foreign pressure and the rising number of dead now over 30,000 many of whom the elderly, women and children.
The day after the attack Benny Gantz, Israel’s then Energy Minister now Foreign Minister, turned both the water and fuel spigots off to international alarm. That has gradually changed over the months. Limited amounts of food, fuel and medical supplies have been allowed into Gaza.
We can argue whether there is famine in Gaza or whether civilians are merely living a nightmare. It’s been a particularly difficult war to report. With the exception of a few accompanied by Israeli forces independent international reporters can’t operate in the strip. The outside world depends largely on local journalists (a horrific number of whom have died under bombardment, some with their families), posts by Gazans on social media and NGOs.
What is not in doubt is that tens of thousands of innocent civilians have died. Biden, in his State of the Nation address this week, gave a figure of 30,000 - this includes Hamas fighters. Israel’s staunchest ally has no reason to inflate these numbers.
The war is taking a desperate toll. If, as some on the right claim, there “is no famine” why would America and Britain embark on such a risky venture?
This is an election year on both sides of the Pond. There’s inevitably an element of electioneering involved in the face of strong support for the Palestinians in both countries.
But criticism of the way Israel is prosecuting this war is not confined to the streets of London or New York. Haaretz has described Israeli government's policy on humanitarian supplies to Gaza as a combination of “vengeance, ignorance and incompetence”. This will seem harsh to some and no doubt there’s an element of party politics here.
Israel is the occupier. Reponsibility for the civilians of Gaza lies , as does those of the Wet Bank, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, with the occupying power.
If Israel wishes to retain its international standing, even its legitimacy, to pursue Hamas, it will have to abide by the rules that democracies are meant observe in war.
Biden spoke of a battle for the soul of America. He could have been referring to Israel