The European Union's representative to the West Bank and Gaza, John Gatt-Rutter, said widespread despondency in the Gaza Strip could lead to a return to the kind of violence seen this summer, the EU’s representative to the West Bank and Gaza said on Wednesday.
Because little has happened since the August 25 ceasefire to improve the situation, “there is a sense of desperation,” he told reporters after visiting the Gaza Strip.
Gatt-Rutter said the anger in Gaza is directed at “the Palestinians”. “We are not hearing any good words about anyone at the moment. There is a lot of anger and a lot of it is aimed at the Palestinians,” he said.
One of the major issues for the local population is the complete absence of any serious emergency response to address the Strip’s major humanitarian needs, he said.
There is also a lot of concern about the failure to pay salaries, he added
The EU’s ambassador in Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, said earlier this week a return to the status quo before the fighting ‘’is not an option.’’
He said there is a need to pursue the dual goal of “lifting the siege of Gaza and allowing a return of normalcy” and safeguarding Israel’s legitimate security concerns.
These twin goals, he said, must be pursued “in parallel, not sequentially.”
Faaborg-Andersen called for “a return to Cairo as soon as possible for negotiation of a long-term, sustainable and verifiable cease-fire,” and for “a return of the Palestinian Authority to spearhead the reconstruction of Gaza.”
It was reported this week that Egyptian officials have been shuttling between Jerusalem and Ramallah in order to kick-start renewed ceasefire talks. Egypt has already agreed to host a donor conference on October 15 at which the international community is expected to work towards the reconstruction of Gaza.
However, a key aspect of ceasefire talks and indeed the success of a donor conference will be the involvement of the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas has controlled Gaza since forcibly seizing power from Abbas’s Fatah faction in 2007.
Earlier this week, Abbas threatened to dissolve the Palestinian unity government formed in June with Hamas backing, unless Hamas recognise “one authority, one gun, one law” in Gaza in the form of PA control.
It is doubtful whether international donors will send funds for Gaza to be supervised by any other body other the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, it is thought that Egypt and world leaders envisage that Abbas’s troops will man the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt under any future arrangement.
As yet, Hamas has given no indication that it is prepared to relinquish any of its authority in Gaza to the PA.