Palestinian statehood and need for continued reform

News has just come through on the vote at the UN recognising Palestine as a “non-member State” and Palestinians are celebrating the streets.  Several European states decided in the past few days not to oppose the vote that President Mahmoud Abbas has described as issuing "a birth certificate for the State of Palestine".

 

Leaders within the Palestinian Authority need to use this moment to press ahead with reconciliation and reform.  The Palestinian Authority is restricted in its ability to govern by the Israeli occupation and cannot be said to be truly sovereign even within the West Bank.  However even within the constraints imposed by occupation it must demonstrate its competence to represent diverse Palestinian interests well.  Over the past decade the Palestinian Authority has developed from a dysfunctional body with no popular mandate to an administration that shows an increasing capacity to deliver essential services, albeit highly dependent on outside donors and the willingness of the Government of Israel to pass aid funds on.  Currently corruption within the Palestinian Authority still remains a significant problem although some progress has been made.  

If the people of Palestine are to capitalise on their non-member State observer status at the UN, the Palestinian Authority must walk the walk that even UN “non-membership” implies and demonstrate to the world it is ready to move to full sovereignty.  The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights documents the abuse of basic rights in both the West Bank and Gaza.  These include; police violence (beatings etc), the use of torture by security services, the constraint on press freedom (particularly with respect to articles supportive of either Hamas or Fatah in the West Bank and in Gaza respectively) and the use of military courts without due legal process.  To be in compliance with the core values of the UN, Hamas must be unequivocal in its renouncement of attacks against civilians and show greater willingness to promote the path of non-violence.

There have been positive developments.  In October local elections were held in 92 of353 municipalities in the West Bank for the first time for 6 years.  But they were boycotted by Hamas who alleged threats, intimidation and arrests of potential candidates. 

At the UN, President Abbas is first and foremost asserting the rights of all Palestinians to self-determination but he is also appealing for the Palestinian Authority to be recognised as a body capable of managing the internal affairs of a future sovereign Palestinian state.  For this appeal to be taken seriously Fatah and Hamas must work on implementing the reconciliation agreement of May 2011 (and subsequent agreements since), achieve progress on human rights, accountability and transparency, and conduct free and fair elections.  This would, no doubt, result in further pressure on Israel to end the occupation.

Cancun and climate finance – loans or grants

In the lead up to Cancun our churches have focused on the negotiation of climate finance. We have argued that requiring developing countries to rely on loans from multilateral banks in order to meet the costs of developing low carbon economies would be iniquitous.

Funafuti, Tuvalu

At Copenhagen it was agreed that developed countries ensure that by 2020 $100 billion per year of new money would be available to support developing countries in mitigation and adaptation. There has been confusion since Copenhagen as to how much of this $100 billion per year of climate finance might be raised by public money and how much will be new private investment. This remains unresolved.

The Cancun agreement has proposed that the multilateral negotiated Green Climate Fund will make a “substantial” contribution to the $100 billion per year but there was little progress on the revenue streams that might offer predictable and sustainable sources of climate finance. Will governments be prepared to channel revenues from the auctioning of carbon allowances, from duties places on air travel and shipping and from levies on bank into an internationally managed fund?

In the short-term much of the $30 billion fast start finance to be raised between 2010 and 2012 is likely to be offered in the form of concessionary loans. But grant funding is required to help the least well-off nations adapt to the impacts of climate change.