Rescue a Two State Solution in Palestine

In the wake of the devastating war in Gaza, the immediate challenge facing the United States, its Arab allies, and the international community, is providing essential aid and reconstruction to the people of Gaza without bolstering Hamas.

Hamas launched reckless and provocative rocket attacks against Israel. But Gazans, already suffering under siege, are not Hamas, they are not combatants, and should not be punished.

As a human being, and as a physician, I was horrified by the tragedy that has befallen the people of Gaza by Israel's disproportionate use of force. After an estimated 1,400 deaths and 5,400 injuries, 80 percent of surviving Gazans now depend on food aid, and 51,000 need shelter. Their suffering must immediately stop.

The war extracted a very heavy human and political toll, but in the short run the status quo ante remains fundamentally unchanged. Gaza lies in ruins, but Hamas still controls Gaza, the responsible policies and credibility of the Palestinian Authority and other Arab allies of the US have been undermined, and the cause of peace continues to erode.

In order to begin to address this unacceptable situation, we must first properly manage humanitarian relief and reconstruction. We must learn the lessons of 2006 in Lebanon, where Hizbullah was able to gain enormous credit and credibility by seizing control of the postwar reconstruction process.

Immediate humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza should proceed unimpeded and without politicization, to deliver food, shelter, medical, fuel, and educational supplies, as well as power and sanitation. It should be provided and expanded through existing agencies, including UNRWA and international NGOs. Israel must allow this to happen. If Hamas again attempts to interfere, it risks the suspension of aid.

Opening the border crossings under Palestinian Authority (PA) control with international monitoring, and implementing the Access and Movement Agreement of 2005, are essential for both aid, and for reconstruction.

Reconstruction however, takes time. It requires a new international mechanism that can ensure entry of construction materials into Gaza, secure from political interference. Any party blocking the reconstruction process must publicly bear the blame.

Read the rest of this column at the Daily Star