US-built port could turn Israel into a Gaza policing force

Palestinians wait for humanitarian aid on a beachfront in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, February 2024

Zvi Bar’el writes in Haaretz on 11 March 2024:

The World Central Kitchen ship Open Arms reached Larnaca Port in Cyprus three weeks ago. If it has not yet set out for Gaza, it is supposed to do so in the next few hours, thus inaugurating the maritime humanitarian route that may change the way aid is transferred to the Gaza Strip.

The ship, loaded with more than 200 tons of flour, rice, tuna cans and other products, has already been inspected by Israeli officials who came to Larnaca to ensure it does not carry military equipment, weapons or materials that may be used for military purposes.

It is still unclear how its cargo will be unloaded and distributed, since the construction of the temporary American pier may take another two months; the intention is to begin by unloading the ship’s cargo onto barges and small boats capable of mooring on the beach itself.

The relief organization responsible for this first flotilla, established by award-winning American chef José Andrés, has extensive experience providing humanitarian aid around the world; in Gaza, it manages some 60 kitchens operated by local residents, mainly women, who cook and prepare meals for those in need. But large quantities of cargo will require special preparations: warehouses, transportation, security, and overseeing distribution, all of which have not yet been arranged, even though plans for this flotilla have been discussed for weeks and are not a last-minute development.

Meanwhile, American forces have begun installing the temporary terminal to be connected to the Gaza coast, expected to be about 500 meters long, and to which subsequent aid ships are expected to dock. This project, jointly funded by the United Arab Emirates and the United States government, will take more than a thousand American soldiers to assemble, operate and maintain the maritime part of the terminal; but these soldiers will not set foot in the Gaza Strip itself.

Supposedly, the pier is only meant to solve the specific, concrete problem of the scope of aid entering Gaza. But the decision to build a pier turned most urgent when it became clear that dropping aid from the air, as has been done in recent weeks, is not only much more expensive, ineffective and dangerous — five Palestinians were killed last week by when aid parcel parachutes failed — but also cannot provide the amounts of food needed. But even beyond the technical solution that the pier may provide, it will neutralize Israel’s policy of turning humanitarian aid into a strategic pressure lever on Hamas or into a pawn in internal Israeli politics.

Israel has made it extremely difficult for aid to reach Gaza. The protracted process of inspecting the cargo at the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings; the police’s ineptitude at dealing with right-wing Israeli demonstrators who prevented trucks from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing; the disaster in which more than 115 people were killed — run over, overrun by the crowd, and some from IDF soldiers’ gunfire — all made it clear to Washington that it must change its strategy, “enter the event” and assume responsibility for managing humanitarian assistance.

Israel will still be responsible for doing security checks on the shipments, apparently at the Cypriot port of Limassol. But as far as is known, it will have no say over the amount of aid shipped or the pace of the shipments.

The ship belonging to the Open Arms aid group is seen docked as it prepares to ferry some 200 tonnes of rice and flour directly to Gaza, at Larnaca harbor, Cyprus, on 8 March 2024

Most importantly, this maritime route, through which goods will enter Gaza in quantities equivalent to 100 trucks a day, could also lead to shipments that don’t meet the strict definition of humanitarian aid. For instance, the U.S. administration, in coordination with European countries, could also bring in construction supplies, equipment to repair water and electricity systems and mobile homes that could be used by Gazans who want to return to northern Gaza from the south.

This American humanitarian project doesn’t only bypass Israel. It also eases the public pressure on Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi to throw open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, stop coordinating aid shipments with Israel and allow unrestricted passage of goods and people to and from Gaza. The Rafah crossing, like Israel’s Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings, will continue to operate, but Gazans will be less dependent on them, and on the Israeli and Egyptian governments, which decide when and how to open them.

This American plan includes no dictates on the scope of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, and to a large extent, it frees Israel of responsibility for managing the campaign’s humanitarian aspects (though not of overall responsibility for the civilian population’s situation). But it also denies Israel the option of using aid as a tool of warfare.

The temporary cargo terminal, which might well become a port, poses major questions for the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza for the last 17 years. In 2010, Israel intercepted a Turkish-sponsored flotilla that tried to break the blockade and bring aid to Gazans. Clashes erupted between Israeli soldiers and the passengers aboard one ship, the Mavi Marmara, resulting in the deaths of 11 Turkish nationals and a long rupture in bilateral relations between Israel and Turkey.

Yet the enormous effort Israel invested in blocking access to Gaza didn’t prevent Hamas from building massive underground cities, importing and manufacturing arms, training troops and, ultimately, carrying out a horrific attack on Israeli soil.

Now, Israel has trapped itself in a situation in which it can no longer block all the access routes, because its most important ally, the United States, is the one sponsoring flotillas to Gaza. Washington is thereby shattering Israel’s strategic doctrine, in which the blockade of Gaza played a key role.

Yet America has no orderly plan of action for distributing the aid once it arrives at the temporary terminal and making sure it reaches those who need it. There is still no Palestinian actor willing and able to take on responsibility for distributing the aid and, later, for initial infrastructure repairs that will enable Gazans to return home.

Washington is still holding talks with senior Palestinian Authority officials about the need to “revitalize” the PA and set up effective governing institutions. But meanwhile, opposition is growing in the PLO, and especially in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, to the appointment of Abbas’ crony Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister in place of Mohammad Shtayyeh, who resigned around two weeks ago but remains the caretaker prime minister. And there currently seems no chance of forming a technocratic Palestinian government.

The result may well be that Israeli soldiers will have to secure and distribute the aid, with help from local and international aid organizations, on top of their ongoing military operations. This could prove the first stage of a dangerous process of turning the IDF into an army of occupation and police force in Gaza.

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