How is Palestine reacting to the Board of Peace?
Palestinian officials are concerned that the Board of Peace will serve as a rival to the United Nations.
Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, Palestine’s minister of foreign affairs and expatriates, emphasised in a meeting with the UK consulate this week that “any transitional institutional framework or body must not serve as a substitute for the United Nations.”
At the same time, the appointment of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to the board is “not just shocking but deeply offensive” for many Palestinians, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Gaza City.
“He is viewed as responsible for mass killings, displacement and the destruction of civilian life. From that perspective, how can someone accused of these crimes be branded a peacemaker?” he said.
Palestinians say Board of Peace is ‘detached from their reality’
Categorically, people in Gaza do not measure peace by committee or boards, but by whether the bombs will stop, food enters, and children can survive the harshest nights.
By that standard, people on the ground believe the formation of the new Board of Peace feels detached from their reality.
There is a sense – that runs deep among Palestinians – that Palestinians are being discussed as a problem to be managed, not as people with rights to be completely addressed.
With those associated with the destruction of Gaza now being elevated to decision-making roles for Palestinians, they feel this strips the word “peace” from its meaning – and is a new mechanism that requires victims to trust the very system that has failed them.
Board of Peace must link Palestine’s economy to political future
There is a seat for Netanyahu, while the Palestinians are missing from this Board of Peace – even the committee that was assigned to address the day-to-day needs of the Gaza Strip.
Any name suggested by the Palestinian Authority was vetoed by Israel, so this gives an idea of the status that Palestinians have been dealing with, not just now, but for decades. International powers include an occupying military power at the helm of the decision-making committees and associations – but not the Palestinians themselves.
They’ve talked about money at the Board of Peace. But what Palestinians have been saying is yes, they need money for economic reconstruction to have some sort of better life, but the key point here isn’t the economy.
The key is linking any economic progress or assistance to the Palestinians with a political lifeline and path that leads them towards being independent from Israel’s military occupation, and that leads to having sovereignty of their lands.
