SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
September, 25 2008, 06:43am EDT
Contact:
Crisis Action on 0207 269 9450 or 07951 244 362 or email gemma.mortensen@crisisaction.org
Middle East Quartet is Failing, Warn Aid Agencies
INTERNATIONAL
The Middle East Quartet
(EU, Russia, UN, USA) is failing - making inadequate progress towards
improving the lives of Palestinians nor improving the prospects for
peace - according to a new report by leading aid agencies published
today (Thursday 25 September).
'The Middle East Quartet: A
Progress Report' is released on the eve of a crucial meeting of the
Quartet members in New York to discuss the future of the Middle East
peace process. The coalition of 21 aid agencies and human rights
organizations - including CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Oxfam
International, Save the Children UK and World Vision Jerusalem - warns
that key areas the Quartet committed to improving remain unchanged or
have deteriorated since the Annapolis Conference last November, when
the group launched its major bid for peace in the Middle East:
- Settlements:
The Quartet has failed to hold the Israeli authorities to account for
the continued expansion of illegal settlements. According to the
report, the Quartet has spoken out about settlements 18 times and yet
settlement expansion is accelerating and taking a drastic toll on
Palestinian daily life. - Access and Movement:
The Quartet has had negligible impact in their stated goal of improving
Palestinians' ability to move freely in their own territory, to work,
reach their schools or access basic services and to import and export
goods. The number of restrictions - including check-points, the Wall
and restricted roads - increased from 561 in November 2007, when
Annapolis began, to around 600 in August 2008. - Gaza:
Despite the cessation of violence in Gaza, the Quartet has been unable
to lift the blockade or secure a significant improvement in the
humanitarian situation. 80% of Gaza's population remains wholly or
partially dependent on aid and stalled emergency relief projects have
yet to be resumed.
David Mepham, Director of Policy, Save
the Children UK said: "Today's study shows that the Quartet has
fundamentally failed to improve the humanitarian situation on the
ground. Unless the Quartet's words are matched by more sustained
pressure and decisive action, the situation will deteriorate still
further. Time is fast running out. The Quartet needs to radically
revise its existing approach and show the people of the region that it
can help make a difference."
The report assesses progress made on
ten of the Quartet's own objectives, using data gathered by the aid
agencies that work on the ground. The objectives include:
- Israel to freeze all settlement activity including natural growth and to dismantle outposts
- Urgent steps needed to improve access and movement
- Respect of cessation of violence between Hamas and Israel
- Increased
humanitarian and commercial flows through the Gaza crossings and the
immediate resumption of stalled UN and other donor projects in Gaza - Continued Palestinian efforts to fight terrorism and to implement a more comprehensive security strategy
The
report found that in five of the ten areas - including the most
critical - rather than securing progress, there had either been no
change or a marked deterioration.
It reveals that, since
Annapolis, the Quartet has had partial achievements - in supporting
Palestinian security sector reform, securing donor pledges, increasing
fuel for Gaza and stimulating private sector activity - but has been
unable to deliver change in the most pressing areas. The report warns
that the Quartet's failures could pose a fatal threat to peace.
Daleep
Mukarji, Director of Christian Aid, said: "The Annapolis process was
meant to herald a new dawn for the Middle East peace process. Nearly
one year on, we are seeing exponential settlement growth, additional
check-points and - because of this - further economic stagnation. The
Quartet is losing its grip on the Middle East Peace Process."
Based on this evidence, the coalition calls on the Quartet to use tomorrow's meeting in New York to:
- Enforce
the deals they brokered and ensure all parties are held to account for
any failure to comply with their obligations under the peace process
and international humanitarian and human rights law. - Support
efforts to pass a resolution at the UN Security Council to address the
humanitarian and economic impact of settlement expansion on Palestinian
communities and the broader peace process. - Adopt a new approach
to improving access and movement in the occupied Palestinian territory,
removing the network of restrictions rather than tackling individual
obstacles while addressing Israeli security concerns. - Commit to bringing a swift end to the blockade of Gaza and the policy of collective punishment.
- Strengthen
the cessation of violence between Hamas and Israel and work with
regional governments to promote Palestinian reconciliation.
Martha
Myers, Country Director for CARE International West Bank and Gaza,
said: "We are facing a vacuum in leadership. The Quartet has been
unable to hold parties to their obligations and this must change fast.
The Quartet's credibility is on the line and we hope it will use this
meeting to show it is able to go beyond rhetoric and make a real
difference to the lives of Palestinians and Israelis."
Read the report:The Middle East Quartet: A Progress Report
Oxfam International is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice. We are working across regions in about 70 countries, with thousands of partners, and allies, supporting communities to build better lives for themselves, grow resilience and protect lives and livelihoods also in times of crisis.
LATEST NEWS
UNRWA Says 6 Workers Among at Least 18 Killed in Israeli Strikes on Gaza School
"This school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children. No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared."
Sep 11, 2024
The United Nations relief agency for Palestine said Wednesday that six of its workers are among the at least 18 people killed in a pair of Israeli airstrikes targeting a U.N. school in the Gaza Strip where thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians were sheltering.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said the Israeli strikes on one of its schools, located in Nuseirat in central Gaza, resulted in "the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident" since Israeli forces began bombarding the strip following last October's Hamas-led attack on Israel.
"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," the agency said. "Sincere condolences to their families and loved ones. This school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children."
Victims of the strikes included women and children.
Earlier on Wednesday the United Nations said the school had been "previously deconflicted with the Israeli forces."
"No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared," UNRWA stressed. "Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target."
Responding to the attacks, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on social media that "these dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now."
Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, a U.N. body. International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is also seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders—at least one of whom, Ismail Haniyeh, has been assassinated.
Over the past 341 days, Israel's assault on Gaza has left more than 145,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, according to Palestinian and international officials. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, while Israel's "complete siege" of Gaza has starved and sickened millions of Palestinians, dozens of whom have died of malnutrition, dehydration, and lack of medical care.
UNRWA says around 200 of its staff members have been killed in more than 450 Israeli attacks on agency facilities since October. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed while seeking shelter under the U.N. flag.
Responding to Israeli claims—reportedly extracted from Palestinian prisoners in an interrogation regime rife with torture and abuse—that a dozen of the more than 13,000 UNRWA workers in Gaza were involved in the October 7 attack, numerous nations including the United States cut off funding to the agency. Almost all of them have restored funding as Israeli lies have been debunked.
Bucking this trend, U.S. President Joe Biden in March signed a bill prohibiting American funding for UNRWA.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Grieving Father Tells 'Morally Bankrupt' GOP to Stop Exploiting Son's Death to Foment Hate
"Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose," said Nathan Clark.
Sep 11, 2024
A day after the Trump campaign saw fit to spread baseless lies about Haitian immigrants in the city of Springfield, Ohio, a grieving father with a deep connection to the bigoted viral stories was forced to speak out.
Springfield resident Nathan Clark spoke at the City Commission meeting that was held shortly before former President Donald Trump faced Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday's debate.
Clark was there to speak on behalf of his son, Aiden, who was tragically killed in August 2023 when a man who had moved to Springfield after immigrating to the U.S. from Haiti accidentally drove into the school bus the boy was riding, sending it into a ditch.
On Monday, without notifying the family in advance or receiving their permission, the Trump campaign posted a photo of Aiden and blamed Harris for his death.
"Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose," Clark said Tuesday, adding that politicians who have spoken about his son while attacking immigrants are "morally bankrupt."
"They have spoken my son's name and used his death for political gain," he said.
The child's death was also mentioned by Vance on Monday in a lengthy post on the social media platform X, in which he repeated unverified rumors about Haitian immigrants in Springfield abducting residents' pets and eating them.
"It's possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false," said the senator, before adding that "a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here," and explicitly blaming immigrants for rising rates of communicable diseases like tuberculosis and HIV—claims that health authorities have said are false.
On Tuesday, Clark took Vance to task—along with Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), and Trump—for using his son's name for political gain in their attacks on migrants.
The spiraling rumors, he said, had left him wishing that a "60-year-old white man" had caused his son's death.
"If that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate spewing people would leave us alone," said Clark. "The last thing that we need is to have the worst day of our lives violently and constantly shoved in our faces. Even that's not good enough for them. They take it one step further. They make it seem as though our wonderful Aiden appreciates your hate, that we should follow their hate. And look what you've done to us. We have to get up here and beg them to stop."
Soon after Clark spoke out, Trump once again spread the lie about migrants eating pets in Springfield—which authorities in the city have said are false—at the presidential debate.
Clark suggested that he can't stop Republican politicians who "vomit all the hate they want" about immigration and "untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members."
"However, they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio," he said.
"In order to live like Aiden, you need to accept everyone, choose to shine, make the difference, lead the way and be the inspiration," Clark continued. "Did you know that he researched different cultures to better appreciate and understand people that he interacted with? Did you know that one of the worst feelings in the world is to not be able to protect your child? Even worse, we can't even protect his memory when he's gone."
"Please stop the hate," he said. "I said to Aiden that I would try to make a difference in his honor. This is it. Live like Aiden."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Austerity Is Labour's Choice': Outrage as Starmer Cuts Winter Fuel Allowance
"Cutting winter fuel allowance is not a tough choice," Jeremy Corbyn said. "It's the wrong choice—and we will not be fooled by ministers' attempts to feign regret over cruel decisions they don't have to take."
Sep 11, 2024
Progressive critics and lawmakers are expressing outrage after the U.K. Parliament on Tuesday voted to cut a winter fuel allowance for millions of Britons, calling the move by the ruling Labour Party, which took power in July, a continuation of the Conservative Party's austerity policies.
The measure turns the allowance, which provides £200 to £300 ($262 to $293) per year to senior citizens for heating bills, into a means-tested program in which only the poorest will qualify. It's expected to reduce the number of people receiving the winter payment from 11.4 million last year to 1.5 million this year. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it a "tough choice" that was necessary because of the poor state of the British treasury.
A vote to overturn the cut lost 348 to 228 on Tuesday after Labour successfully whipped enough its members of Parliament into supporting the cut. Fifty two Labour MPs abstained, at least 20 of whom had expressed opposition to the plan, and one voted in opposition.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now represents voters as an independent, condemned Starmer's move.
"Cutting winter fuel allowance is not a tough choice," Corbyn wrote on social media. "It's the wrong choice—and we will not be fooled by ministers' attempts to feign regret over cruel decisions they don't have to take."
"Did he get permission from the Tories to reuse their trademark slogans?" he asked of Starmer in an a Tuesday op-ed in Tribune.
Under the headline, "Austerity Is Labour's Choice," Corybn railed against Starmer and his allies for falling back on the kind of neoliberalism that has dominated the U.K. for decades. He wrote:
It is astonishing to hear government ministers try to pull the wool over the public's eyes. The government knows that there is a range of choices available to them. They could introduce wealth taxes to raise upwards of £10 billion. They could stop wasting public money on private contracts. They could launch a fundamental redistribution of power by bringing water and energy into full public ownership. Instead, they have opted to take resources away from people who were promised things would change. There is plenty of money, it’s just in the wrong hands.
The winter fuel payment was introduced as an unconditional cash transfer in 1997 under then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. Some economists have argued that U.K. pensioners are in better position today than than were then, and thus the payment no longer makes sense; others have noted that in real terms, the payment is far lower than it used to be, due to inflation, and thus had become a relatively insignificant benefit anyway.
However, progressives have called the cuts, which were first proposed after Labour took office and weren't mentioned during the election campaign, far too drastic, given the roughly 10 million people they'll effect. Meanwhile, Corbyn and others have argued that Labour's move marks a loss for universalism and could auger more cuts to come:
A universal system of welfare reduces the stigma attached to those who rely on it, and removes barriers for those who find it difficult to apply (both are reasons why the take-up of means-tested payments is so low). What next for means testing? The state pension? The NHS [National Health Service]?
Some commentators have objected to rich pensioners receiving benefits such as the fuel allowance. Progressives have responded that the money should simply be clawed back through higher tax rates on the wealthy.
"In my view the government should be looking to raise revenues from the wealthiest in society, not working class pensioners," Jon Trickett, the only Labour MP to vote to nix to the cut, said in a statement issued on social media.
Universal programs make it easier to reach all those who need help, progressives argue. The new winter fuel payment will be set up so that only those who receive a Pension Credit or other similar government benefit will be eligible for it. But only 63% of pensioners who qualify for the credit actually receive it, government statistics show. The government has announced a campaign to try to increase uptake of the credit.
Trickett said that he feared it would lead more senior citizens to fall into poverty during what he predicted would be an "extremely difficult" winter for his constituents in West Yorkshire. "After years of obscene profiteering by energy companies, they are hiking bills yet again," he wrote.
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the cut would save the treasury £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion) this year. She argues that the Conservatives, who held power from 2010 until July, initially as part of a coalition, left the national finances in a dire state and Labour must fill a £22 billion ($28.7 billion) budgetary "black hole."
Labour hasn't released an official impact assessment of the winter payment measure. Reeves, like Starmer, has said she didn't want to make the cut, but two weeks ago a video clip of her proposing to cut the allowance as an opposition MP in 2014.
Rachel Reeves has repeatedly said she didn't want to cut the universal winter fuel allowance for pensioners but it was a tough decision forced on her because of the financial black hole left by the last govt
Here's Reeves 10 years ago: pic.twitter.com/1BAIL4racv
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) August 28, 2024
Reeves and Starmer have long tried to establish their fiscal prudence and distance themselves from purportedly free-spending progressives in their party. A progressive commentator on Novara Mediacalled their winter allowance cut an "incredible political fumble."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular