Today, we are happy to share this Policy Brief “Gaza : Leadership and Reconstruction for the “Day After“ co-written by Professor Sultan Barakat, Academic Fellow at our Centre.
As mentioned by our Director, Prof. Karl Blanchet :
“The Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies has been an active member of the Gaza Health Initiative (GHI). But as an academic institution, being engaged can take several forms and offering a platform for strong and relevant academic work is one of them. I have been a strong admirer of Professor Sultan Barakat, eminent academic at the Ben Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar, who has also an affiliation with our Centre. We met in Amman during the first GHI conference and agreed that our institutions should join forces to offer a unique perspective on humanitarian diplomacy. When Sultan sent me the document, he wrote with Professor Porteus about the reconstruction of Gaza, I immediately appreciated that the authors have managed to clearly analyse the situation. This policy brief is unique and will constitute a new reference.”
As Professor Sultan Barakat says:
“The unprecedented destruction and dislocation of the population in Gaza is re-defining our understanding of the nature of conflict and post-conflict trajectories. At this point, the conflict defies having an “end” and requires immediate action to provide international protection. In the absence of a traditional “day after,” reconstruction risks, as has happened in the past, building mistrust and disappointment and failing to address critical issues around power imbalance, justice, and human rights.”
According to Barnett R. Rubin, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation, New York University.
“This valuable report argues that the goal of international policy for the ‘Day after’ in Gaza should be to safeguard and protect the rights and welfare of the Palestinian people, including the right to sovereignty, in the context of a two-state solution. It calls for international protection over a transitional period of 3-5 years to allow the Palestinians to recover and determine their own governance structure. This approach contrasts with the dominant U.S. and some European policy where the goal is solely the “security of Israel”.
The authors wish to thank Professor Richard Caplan (University of Oxford) and Dr Richard Ponzio (Stimson Centre, Washington D.C.) for their insightful feedback on an earlier draft of this policy brief.