The painful politics of Gaza's sealed borders
Robert Karniol laments the lack of an escape route for the Gazan people trapped in a combat zone, as politics trumps humanitarian concerns
Should Egypt and Israel open their sealed borders to civilians seeking temporary flight from the violence of conflict? This question came to mind as I saw the appalling destruction wrought on Gaza since fighting erupted in earnest a month ago. And while Israel has also suffered grievous losses, for Gazan non-combatants there is no escape.
Since it proved impractical to try contacting all the world leaders expressing deep concern over the plight of Palestinian innocents caught up in the conflict between Hamas militants and Israel, I put my question to no more than a select sampling.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the suffering on both sides and reiterated the need for a sustainable political solution. Yet an official in his spokesman's office refused outright to consider this question.
US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke of lifting the Gaza blockade in the context of a broader political deal. As for any interim respite from the suffering, a State Department press officer took my question for consideration and never called back.
Then there is the UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay. She has been strident in her criticism of Hamas and Israel alike. Her press office has so far ignored my emailed query.
A press officer with Egypt's foreign ministry never returned my call, but foreign ministry officials with Israel and the Palestinian Authority were prepared to offer some thoughts. Both emphasised that the solution ultimately lies in fully resolving the underlying Palestinian issue.
The Israeli diplomat, Joel Lion, highlighted the field hospital set up by the Israeli army to treat injured Palestinian civilians. But a mass cross-border movement of war refugees, he said, was untenable due to security concerns.
The Palestinian diplomat, Said Hamad, was equally adamant in stating that the people of Gaza want to remain in place despite the bombing and shelling. They have concerns over being once again cast permanently adrift if they were to leave.
Ultimately, then, political considerations trump humanitarian instincts among all concerned.
Conflicts worldwide invariably produce movement among non-combatants, some becoming internally displaced and others crossing adjacent borders as refugees. By some estimates, this round of fighting in Gaza has produced some 400,000 of the former, and none of the latter.
In that sense, hermetically sealed Gaza is unique - its civilian population caught like fish in a barrel. And international humanitarian law offers no solace.
"The law does not require neighbouring states to open their borders. It simply says nothing about this issue," said Nada Doumani, a press officer with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Then a glimmer of hope. "Under refugee law the neighbouring state would be prohibited from sending people who have arrived at its border back to a risk of persecution, to a risk of death as a result of hostilities. Arguably, this could extend to saying that the neighbouring country should open its borders to people in such dire need." But enforcement may prove another matter. Ultimately, as Doumani noted, "Closing borders is a political decision".
