Making good on Cairo: an airlift for Gaza

In his address from Cairo last June, President Obama acknowledged that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a major source of tension between America and Muslim-majority countries. He described the situation for the Palestinian people as “intolerable” and promised that “America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.” He also referred to the “continuing humanitarian crises in Gaza.”

Indeed, the Gaza crisis not only continues but worsens. A major U.S. effort to supply humanitarian aid would go far in making good the Obama pledges at Cairo.

As the world rightly focuses on the urgent needs of earthquake victims in Haiti, the citizens of Gaza continue to suffer out of sight the brutal aftermath of war and continuing blockade.  A year has passed since Israel ended its three-week air and land attacks on the Gaza Strip, a territory in which one and a half million people are confined to an area just twice the size of Washington, D.C.  In such an overcrowded space, it is not surprising that the 1,400 Palestinians killed and more than 5,000 wounded included a high number of women and children (more than 400 killed). 

While the UN debates the Goldstone Commission findings of war crimes on both sides, the surviving population of Gaza suffers increasing hardship.  With the international community largely unseeing and unseen, ordinary Gazans live each day in a bleak atmosphere of hopelessness.

The blockade imposed by Israel in June 2007 following the Hamas takeover continues, placing heavy restrictions on imports and denying most Gazans their right to leave the Strip.  With the economy degraded, the private sector has virtually collapsed.  The blockade has prevented reconstruction and left water, sanitation and other services to deteriorate. Young and old languish without jobs.  The border restrictions imposed by Israel and new barriers erected at the Egyptian crossing, constrain the delivery of humanitarian aid.  As a result, Gazans endure mounting food shortages, unsafe water and displacement from ruined dwellings. Unexploded shells continue to cost lives, especially among children. Health and educational facilities are seriously degraded. 

According to UNRWA, “strict curbs on imports remain in place, whilst exports continue to be banned.”  The import ban extends to building materials and machinery and even to paper and educational supplies, water pipes and agricultural inputs. Rejected food items have included baby formula, pasta, soft drinks and tea.

The continuing denial of land and sea access to Gaza portends an escalating humanitarian crisis — not unlike the one faced by the Allies in post-war Germany.   In June, 1948 the former Soviet Union sealed off the three western sectors of Berlin — threatening the inhabitants with cold and starvation.  With rail and road links severed, the U.S., England and France responded with the now famous Berlin Airlift.  More than 200,000 continuous flights over 11 months delivered needed food and fuel to West Berlin, ultimately convincing the USSR to remove their land barriers in May, 1949. 

On Jan. 27, 54 members of Congress signed a letter to President Obama urging that he “advocate for immediate improvements in Gaza” in such areas as movement of people in and out of Gaza, access to clean water, plentiful food, medicine, sanitation, fuel, spare parts and prompt passage into and out of Gaza for commercial and agricultural goods.

The humanitarian and political success of the Berlin Airlift should be an inspiration for President Obama. An American-led airlift could do what UNRWA and many international NGOs have thus far been unable to do: namely, deliver food and other relief goods and reconstruction materials in sufficient quantities.  Since Gaza lacks a functioning airport, a Gaza Airlift would need to utilize helicopters for air drops instead of cargo planes.  Indeed, air drop deliveries directly to the people would have the advantage of avoiding official contact with the Hamas authorities. 

Beyond its immediate value as humanitarian relief, a Gaza Airlift would show the U.S. president making good on his Cairo speech.  It would be tangible evidence of American support to the people of Gaza and to the Palestinian cause.  Such a message would not be lost on the broader Muslim world.

Hager is former director general of the International Development Law Organization in Rome.