Michael de Laine

Discussions continue but no political action yet on gun-running into Gaza

By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 5th February 2009

President Obama has backed a decision by European leaders to stop arms smuggling to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Civil servants discussed ways to do this at a meeting in Copenhagen, where Israel was an observer. But Israel must be disappointed by the lack of political action following this meeting – the discussions continue in London next month.

US President Barack Obama spent some time during his first days in office calling political leaders in the Middle East and Europe about the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

And as well as sending George Mitchell, his newly appointed Middle East envoy, to talk to Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Obama backed a decision taken a couple of weeks ago by European leaders at Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt to stop arms smuggling to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

One of the results of the Sharm el Sheikh meeting was a two-day expert workshop – primarily attended by civil servants – that finished in Copenhagen today.

Hosted by the Danish government, the workshop included representatives of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as a number of observers, including Israel.

According to the official communiqué from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the discussions at the meeting “focused on how countries could strengthen international efforts to help prevent the illicit flow of weapons to Gaza.”

The communiqué said, “The participants noted the existing international and regional efforts to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition into Gaza and similar efforts farther afield. They reaffirmed their intent to further explore and develop effective measures together with regional partners, such as enhancing information sharing, strengthening diplomatic cooperation, as well as reviewing existing international authorities and mechanisms. The participants emphasised their ongoing commitment to peace and security in the region based on a two-state solution.”

The initiative is part of the international and regional activity to support an immediate and durable ceasefire in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860, which provides for unimpeded provision of humanitarian assistance to Gaza as well as the sustained reopening of the crossing points on the basis of the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access.

“The participants expressed their willingness to discuss the issue in relevant fora and agreed to meet again, with possible additional relevant participants, to further discuss and develop supportive measures to prevent illicit arms trafficking into Gaza,” the communiqué said.

The next workshop will be held in London in March 2009, and no political action can be expected before this meeting, Michael Zilmers-Johns, an ambassador and state secretary at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a press conference after the workshop.

Asked how long it will be before there is a transition to political action from the workshop, Zilmers-Johns said, “The meeting in March will also be an expert meeting, so it will be after that – we hope to have resolved many of the issues that need further study by then.”

He stressed that the Copenhagen meeting was a meeting of experts and there was no political representation.

“We see this meeting as a significant contribution to the international community’s collective efforts for a lasting ceasefire and improving the situation for the population in the area, not least the Gazan civilian population, which has suffered so intensely and horribly in the latest time,” Zilmers-Johns said.

The situation in the Gaza Strip remains extremely fragile. Opening the borders to Gaza is crucial to allowing humanitarian assistance and reconstruction without allowing arms in, which would reopen the cycle of violence.

“Regional states are firmly committed to preventing arms smuggling, but there are problems of arms smuggling that go well beyond the immediate borders of Gaza,” said Zilmers-Johns. “Therefore there is a need for concerted and sustained action by the international community to support these regional efforts and to focus on preventing the smuggling of weapons also geographically further away from Gaza.”

“The discussions in the workshop have been very useful,” said Per Stig Møller, the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs. “I am therefore pleased that Denmark has taken part in launching an international process that hopefully can contribute to a long-term and lasting ceasefire to the benefit of Israel and the civilian population in Gaza.”

While these talks centred on how illicit arms shipments to Hamas could be prevented, and included political, legal, diplomatic and technical aspects of potential international contributions to handling this challenge, neither closing one of the major smuggling routes – the tunnels under Rafeh at the Egyptian-Gaza Strip border – nor ensuring that Israel does not hold up humanitarian aid and the supplies needed for reconstructing Gaza were part of the meeting’s terms of reference.

Israel has tried to destroy the tunnels both during the three weeks of fighting and since, while Gazans – or at least Hamas troops directing young children – have fought to keep them open and have tried to repair damaged tunnels. American engineers are currently installing radar equipment that can detect the tunnels.

Israel has asked Egypt on a number of occasions to do more to prevent the arms smuggling, but Egyptian police and military personnel are reportedly accepting bribes, as a supplement to their meagre pay, to allow arms to pass the tunnels.

“Hamas will never lack either the means or the ingenuity to acquire weapons…,” author Zaki Chehab wrote in New Statesman last week. “At the time of the ceasefire, Hamas indicated it would use every means at its disposal to ensure a constant flow of weapons. The international community is equally determined they will not succeed. An armada of European ships has been sent to police the local coastlines, as the Red and Mediterranean seas are obvious smuggling routes from Iran, a long-term backer of Hamas… On land, an underground network of tunnels provide what Israel believes is Hamas’s primary weapons smuggling route.

“Commanders of Hamas’s military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, insist that even if smuggling routes are blocked they are now capable of manufacturing weapons themselves, as large numbers of their personnel have been trained in arms technology abroad, particularly in Iran, since they took control of Gaza in June 2007,” he adds. “Presently, Hamas’s missiles have a range of 10-50 km, but the group’s leaders believe it is only a matter of time before their rockets will be able to reach the Israeli capital, Tel Aviv.”

Chehab also sees both the West Bank and Gaza anxiously awaiting the outcome of talks between Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, who met in Cairo on 2nd February to discuss the progress of negotiations with Hamas.

In addition, Chehab notes that Hamas and Israel must “agree a prolonged ceasefire of at least a year to give the international community and the fledgling administration in Washington space to restart the stalled peace process.”

Any concessions that Israel will make towards peace or even to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip will be in exchange for assurances that Hamas gets no arms and refrains from firing missiles into Israel. Israel is therefore unlikely to be very pleased with the lack of political action on the gun-running at the Copenhagen meeting.

In the meantime, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-wing party Likud is expected to win next Tuesday’s general election in Israel, has been boosted by voter’s concerns about national security – a major Netanyahu election theme. He can use the lack of political action at the Copenhagen meeting as an argument to further reinforce his position.

As the technical talks are due to continue in London in March, humanitarian air and reconstruction supplies are just trickling into the Gaza Strip.

Barack Obama has released money from the US Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for use in the Palestinian region.

“President Obama has expressed his deep concern about the recent loss of life and the substantial suffering in Gaza,” said Middle East envoy George Mitchell during a stop in Jerusalem. “I am pleased to announce that this week the President directed the use of another US$20.3 million to provide emergency food and medical assistance to the wounded and displaced in Gaza.”

The US$20.3 million in aid is a fraction of the over US$3 billion the US sends annually in aid to Israel and far below the US$2 billion estimate for rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure and homes in the Gaza Strip.

Zilmer-Johns noted that Denmark has been pressuring Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and echoed statements by Danish foreign minister Per Stig Møller:

“There is a need for immediate full access for humanitarian aid and the reconstruction of Gaza needs to be started,” Møller said two days ago. “This has been clearly communicated to Israel by Denmark and the rest of the international community, and we will keep up the pressure on this issue. At the same time it is important to ensure that an opening of the borders does not entail that the population of Gaza once again risks to be taken hostage by fighting initiated by Hamas. A sustained opening of the borders to Gaza is therefore related to the efforts to prevent the smuggling of weapons.”

The minister noted that it is obvious that the international efforts to support the ceasefire and the reactivation of the peace process rely on the parties to live up to their obligations under the Road Map for Peace.

“The Palestinians need to be reconciled and the terror must end,” he said. “Israel must freeze the settlement activities and remove roadblocks. All must do their part to sustain the populations’ faith in the peace track.”