Gandhian Way to Palestinian Peace?

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]alestinian Prime Minister Dr Rami Hamdallah is a technocrat, leading a government of nonpartisan technocrats. He enjoys the confidence of President Mahmoud Abbas and all Palestinian factions.

With Gaza in ruins following the devastating Israeli attacks, all eyes are on him for reconstruction and for marshalling the international community. More specifically, he must get the Muslim and Arab world to come to Gaza’s aid and help the people stand on their own.

Hamdallah is articulate and a major proponent of Palestinian unity. “Unity is essential to end the occupation,” he said. He was in the Kingdom to attend the extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah. During the course of an exclusive interview with of The Sunday Guardian, he said that the idea of non-violent resistance was gaining greater traction among Palestinians.

“We are not equal to Israel in terms of military might and, therefore, we believe that non-violent resistance is a good way to get rid of this occupation. We have good and successful examples in India with Mahatma Gandhi and South Africa with Nelson Mandela,” he said.

Following are excerpts from an exclusive interview he gave to SIRAJ WAHAB of Arab News:

Mr Prime Minister, you head a Palestinian unity government. What are the challenges you and your government face as result of the latest Israeli onslaught on Gaza?

All countries acknowledge our government. It is a consensus government that has been backed by all Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas. In this government, all ministers are technocrats. They do not belong to any faction. President Mahmoud Abbas approved the formation of this government. It is this government that has been tasked with the reconstruction of Gaza. All countries of the world wanted our government to supervise the reconstruction of Gaza. When I say all countries, I mean all countries, except Israel, recognize this government as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Except Israel?

Yes. Israel was against the formation of this unity government from Day 1 because they don’t want the unity. They always wanted to separate Gaza from the West Bank. They did not even allow my ministers who live in Gaza to come to the West Bank for the swearing-in ceremony. We had to conduct the swearing-in ceremony via videoconferencing. Imagine?

What does Israel want?

Yes, they don’t want Palestinian unity. They want us to remain divided so that they can follow a divide-and-rule policy. When we were in negotiations with the Americans, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “Who will be in charge of Gaza if we reach an agreement with the Palestinians?” Now, when we Palestinians are united, now that we have control over Gaza, he says that our unity government is an obstacle towards a peaceful settlement and that we (the Palestinians) are dealing with terrorists and that they cannot accept this government. Netanyahu wants this government dismantled. He is using this as a pretext to stall any advancement towards peace.

Now that there is a ceasefire, what next?

We have many challenges to overcome. There is no access to Gaza. We cannot travel to Gaza, as ministers or as Prime Minister. Israel has completely stopped our movement. We cannot hold any meeting there. The other problem is that we still do not have full authority over Gaza. Hamas has not extended the kind of cooperation that was expected of them. In a sense, that is understandable because we are talking about differences that have accumulated over seven acrimonious years. We are hopeful that our government will be able to control all aspects of life in Gaza, civil affairs, security, et cetera. We are determined to unite the country, unite Gaza and the West Bank and to work as a sovereign government that can run its writ over the entirety of Palestine.

You are saying that Hamas has not been fully cooperative with the unity government headed by you, Mr Prime Minister. What are its reservations? Is there any particular sticking point?

You should ask Hamas these questions. Hamas wanted to pay salaries to the people they appointed after 2007 (the year in which Hamas seized control of Gaza). Since then, Hamas has appointed nearly 50,000 employees. From Day 1, we told them we don’t have resources. We have no resources to pay these people. This is a sticking point up until now. What we are trying to do is to find a solution to this problem. We are now talking about paying social benefits to these people. A legal and administrative committee was formed under the Cairo Agreement to look into the matter. Until the committee makes its decision and recommendations, I hope we can find resources from donor countries to pay social benefits to these people.

You are hopeful of finding a solution?

Yes, with help from donor countries. I must tell you that we are running into a big deficit. Our deficit for 2014 is about $1.550 billion. We have to find resources to solve the issue of these Hamas-appointed employees.

Did the disunity in Palestinian ranks encourage Israel to attack Gaza?

Israel has attacked Gaza many times. In 2008, 2012 and now 2014. Our division always served Israeli interests because they always used it as a pretext for not moving towards a peace settlement. Since all factions back it, this government now has an excellent opportunity to move forward, to unite the country and reconstruct Gaza. I believe we should not miss this opportunity.

When was the last time you visited Gaza?

It was in May last year.

What is the scene in Gaza now?

Gaza has been under siege for more than seven years now. There is a humanitarian disaster. There is no electricity, no water, no sanitation, no infrastructure — nothing. Absolutely nothing. Gaza has suffered three Israeli onslaughts as I mentioned before. This aggression was the worst. Nearly 2,000 Gazans were martyred. Around 10,000 have suffered injuries. More than 30,000 homes, mosques and churches have been destroyed. Gaza is suffering. When you put someone in an open-air prison, what do you expect? It is a disaster.

Gaza is an open-air prison?

It is. You talk about 1.8 million Palestinians inside a big prison. They don’t have access to any place. They can’t move out. If they want to move to other places, they have to seek permission and this permission may take months to get. Gaza is under attack from the air, from the sea, from the land. This new aggression, uncivilised and unprecedented, has added immensely to the people’s suffering. I hope once this war is over and a permanent ceasefire is reached, we can move towards reconstruction and start rebuilding lives in Gaza. We want to reconstruct the Gaza airport that was destroyed by Israel. We want to build a harbour in Gaza. Now, therefore, is the time to ask the international community to liberate Palestine — to end this occupation because nobody can guarantee that Israel will not attack Gaza again. I appeal to the world powers and the United Nations to help us obtain our freedom. Let the UN Security Council implement its resolutions for a sovereign State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Is there any estimate of the total cost of reconstructing Gaza?

We are still counting the costs. A Cabinet committee has been established. We are working with the international agencies. Before the end of this month we will have the rough estimates. But, for sure, it will run into billions of dollars.

There are voices within the Palestinian diaspora and the international community that after all this destruction, non-violent resistance should be given preference. What is your take on that?

We are looking for a peaceful settlement to end this occupation. We believe that non-violent resistance is our way. I must say that we, President Abbas and my government, believe that non-violent resistance is a good way to get rid of this occupation. We have a good example in India with Gandhi and South Africa with Mandela. Their non-violent resistance is a good and successful model, and now we are asking our people to follow their model in order to achieve independence and freedom. This movement is actually gaining momentum. It would be an excellent way for us to take our resistance to the next level.

Is it getting any support?

You have got to understand that we are not equal to Israel in terms of military might. Look at what has happened in Gaza. Nearly 2,000 Palestinians were killed. Casualties on the Israeli side are only in double digits. There is no balance of power. Israel has been using massive ammunition and aerial bombardment. This is why I think we should use non-violent resistance to make our struggle successful.

Mr Prime Minister, there are many out there who lose hope after seeing the carnage in Gaza and the babies being killed. Did you lose hope?

No. We should never lose hope. A Palestine state will prevail — shall prevail. We have been under occupation since 1948. We have a just cause. We Palestinians are trying to regain our homeland in which we can live as a free people in peace and harmony with our neighbours. When we went to the United Nations in 2012 seeking non-permanent membership, we received the support of 138 member states of the United Nations. That is incredible. With this kind of worldwide support, we will use all peaceful tools to achieve our goal of ending this occupation which has lasted 48 years. Enough. Forty-eight years. We have been under occupation since 1967. This is the longest occupation on Earth. We should not, and we will not, despair. The whole world is behind us. Look at what happened during the attack on Gaza. All people in all countries, even the United States, took to the streets in our support — all European countries, Arab countries, Muslim countries, Pakistan and India. Hundreds of thousands of people came out in our support. We are grateful to all those nations and their people for their support to our cause. Our cause is just. Our cause is fair. We believe in a two-state solution, Palestine beside Israel. We should live in peace.

What role has Egypt played during this crisis?

We fully support the Egyptian initiative. They are doing their best. They have done their best in brokering a ceasefire.

There is a section that believes that Palestinians would have been better off to accept the Egyptian ceasefire initiative when it was floated the first time?

Yes, I wish Hamas had accepted the Egyptian ceasefire initiative in the early days of the aggression. It was a missed chance. All factions accepted the same proposal in the end. We could have saved thousands of precious lives, but what was to happen has happened.

You quoted the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) while concluding your address to the OIC Foreign Ministers saying that you have conveyed the message of what is happening in Palestine. Now, what is the responsibility of the Muslim world?

When we talk about Palestine, Palestine is a Muslim country; it is an Arab country. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site for Muslims. All Muslims share this, so we wanted to tell our friends in all countries that Palestine is not the sole responsibility of Palestinians. It is the responsibility of everyone to help liberate Palestine through peaceful means.

Any final comments?

I would tell my friends that we Palestinians have excellent human resources. We have excellent natural resources. We have gas, discovered in 1998 in Gaza, but we are not allowed to extract it. We have petrol in the West Bank, which we can’t drill. I would tell you, if we are given a chance to live in an independent Palestinian state, I am sure we can turn Palestine into the Singapore of the Arab world because we are rich in human resources. We have engineers, doctors and entrepreneurs. We Palestinians have built the infrastructure of many countries in the world by our hard work. We are ready to build our country. But first, this occupation must end.