Gaza residents fear their voices won't be heard

GAZA CITY — As the inaugural meeting of the US-led "Board of Peace" convened in Washington on Thursday, many Gazans said they fear their voices will not be heard.

With the Gaza Strip in ruins after two years of conflict, its residents want the shattered Palestinian territory rebuilt above all, but they worry that decisions about their future are being taken without them.

The Board of Peace was set up after the United States, along with Qatar and Egypt, negotiated a ceasefire in October to halt the Palestine-Israel conflict.

It was initially designed to oversee the truce and Gaza's reconstruction, but its purpose has since morphed into resolving all sorts of international conflicts.

Around two dozen world leaders and senior officials attended the meeting, which addressed the ceasefire's fragile ongoing second phase, including financial pledges and proposals for an international stabilization force.

"If this council brings real calm and improves our situation, we welcome any effort," said Mohammed Abdel-Majid, 37, a displaced Palestinian living in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

"But the absence of Palestinian representation worries us," he told Agence France-Presse.

"How can they understand our needs when they do not live what we live every day? We fear that decisions will be far removed from the suffering of people on the ground."

Although the board itself includes no Palestinian members, a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee has been established to oversee Gaza's day-to-day governance, which will operate under the supervision of the "Board of Peace".

Even so, uncertainty about what these arrangements will mean in practice has fueled widespread anxiety among Gazans about their future.

In Gaza City, the territory's biggest urban hub, 40-year-old Safaa Yassin said years of pledges have yielded little tangible change.

"We have witnessed many promises, and each time there was talk of solutions — but without implementation and without our lives changing for the better," she said.

"When Palestinians are excluded from these meetings, it raises questions about the fairness of any outcomes issued by this council and whether they can truly be applied on the ground."

At the meeting, the US said it would contribute $10 billion to the initiative and claimed that Norway would host a board event.

However, Ane Jorem, a spokeswoman for Norway's Foreign Ministry, rejected the claim and reiterated that Norway would not become a board member.

"Norway has clearly communicated that we will not become a member of the Board of Peace, and this position remains firm," Jorem was quoted as saying by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

Norway is among several European countries, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, that have stayed out of the controversial board.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said on Thursday that France was "surprised" by the European Commission's attendance at the Washington gathering, stating that the commission had not been authorized by the European Council to attend.

Some diplomats also questioned whether the commission has a mandate to decide on sending a representative without approval from the capitals.

"It is surprising that the commission has decided to be represented at the event, given that numerous countries have expressed concerns about its potential instrumentalization and have questioned the credibility of an initiative that appears to seek to supplant the United Nations," a Belgian diplomat said.

Troop deployment

In a first for an Arab country, Morocco announced it was ready to send police as well as officers to the nascent International Stabilization Force.

The force's US commander, Major General Jasper Jeffers, said an Indonesian officer would serve as his deputy. Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, said earlier it was ready to send 8,000 troops — nearly half of the 20,000 sought.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Palestinian militant group Hamas, told AFP that the board should compel Israel to "stop its violations in Gaza" and to lift its long siege of the territory.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the group said any political track or arrangements discussed regarding Gaza and the future of Palestinians "must start with a complete cessation of the aggression, lifting the blockade, and guaranteeing the legitimate national rights of our people, foremost among them the right to freedom and self-determination".

AGENCIES - XINHUA