Aid to Gaza

The Gaza conflict has had the hardest impact on the Palestinian population, making them dependent on external aid. Denmark supplies humanitarian assistance through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA)

By Anna Mogensen

In the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the damaging effects of occupation, blockade and civil war have had the hardest impact on the Palestinian population. The Gaza conflict peaked most recently at the beginning of 2009 with fierce bombardment and a land invasion of Gaza.

Consequently the civil society is highly dependent on external aid. Denmark provides humanitarian support to the 4.5 million Palestinian refugees through UNWRA of around DKK 90 million (EUR 12 million) annually, and is the 9th biggest donor.

The money is used for the basic necessities such as food, medicine and fuel as well as to support UNWRA’s safeguarding of education, health and protection of the public.

During the Gaza war, UNWRA issued an emergency appeal for help for the civilian victims, to which Denmark responded with DKK 20 million (EUR 2.7 million).

The situation in Gaza is quiet at present (August 2009), but up to 80 per cent of the Palestinian population is still dependent on food aid.

“Denmark gives high priority to Gaza as a humanitarian focus area. There has been a war every year in Gaza since 2006, and the area has been subject to blockade since then. But except for a few brief periods, fundamental humanitarian aid has been permitted to enter – a list of just over 40 products that Israel allows into Gaza,” explains Rolf Holmboe, head of the department for stabilisation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. He continues:

“Anything other than humanitarian aid has been blocked, for example building materials so that people can start rebuilding their houses. The blockade also extends to imports and exports, which are necessary for the financial sector to get going. This means that economic development is still teetering on the brink of the abyss, and it keeps the population in an extended humanitarian emergency situation where they cannot get anything to work with and sell goods.”

Danish Gaza package 2009-2011

At a conference in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh in March this year, the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs Per Stig Møller pledged to provide DKK 304.8 million (EUR 41 million) for the period 2009-2011, apportioned between humanitarian support and assistance, for rebuilding and development in Gaza.

Local infrastructure is one of the areas that has been most severely impacted during the war, the damage being estimated to exceed USD 500 million. Denmark’s assistance is given directly to and in collaboration with the population.

Source: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

Humanitarian stabilisation
During 2009, the Danish government has provided humanitarian assistance to the area in several ways.

Two Danish NGOs, DanChurchAid and Danish Red Cross, which are working in the area, have been granted DKK 10 million (EUR 1.3 million). DanChurchAid provides food, while the Danish Red Cross provides psychosocial help to the many children who have been severely traumatised by the war and the military operations.

“Gaza is an incredibly small place, and so the children get a very intense experience of the conflict. Experience shows that it is important to intervene quickly and help them to process their experiences in a positive way. So the Danish Red Cross was given a rapid grant to provide immediate psychosocial help for the children,” explains Rolf Holmboe.

He points out that humanitarian stabilisation is the foundation for future rebuilding and development processes in Gaza which in the long term will stabilise the area.

“The Danish project area is situated in the middle of Gaza, in areas severely impacted by the conflict. Those municipalities whose infrastructure is in ruins cannot engage in local development as long as they have to deal with destroyed sewers and water supplies,” says Rolf Holmboe and continues:

“We have done a lot to help the local communities with their immediate needs, so they can maintain their efforts in more long-term development initiatives. There will always be a grey zone between humanitarian assistance, stabilisation assistance and development initiatives. It is actually stabilisation assistance that is needed to lay the foundation for social and economic re-establishment, so that Gaza can come out of the crisis.”

The Danish project in Gaza is among those that have taken the lead in facilitating the shift from the immediate humanitarian effort to long-term rebuilding.

“It includes efforts to strengthen dialogue and collaboration between the democratically elected local authorities and the local population, so that social and other services are not monopolised by Hamas’ parallel structures,” explains Rolf Holmboe. He elaborates:

“In that work a special effort is made for children and young people who are particularly in danger of radicalisation, and for women who have difficulty finding space for social interaction and economic development.”