European Commission’s services feel uneasy faced with humanitarian crisis in Gaza

On Thursday 8 May, French doctor and activist Pascal André and Belgian lawyer Alexis Deswaef told Agence Europe about the unease felt by the European Commission’s humanitarian services in the face of the sheer scale of the crisis in Gaza, as well as Israel’s failure to respond to the EU’s many demands for the blockade to be lifted and for international law to be respected.

On Monday 5 May, Mr André and Mr Deswaef met those responsible for planning, coordinating and monitoring EU humanitarian action in the Middle East.

“I was struck by the sense of powerlessness of senior civil servants, who were nonetheless convinced that we were right to make our case”, said Mr Deswaef.

The meeting was held at the request of the citizens’ movement, ‘Hunger for Justice for Palestine’, which brings together a number of healthcare workers who have been mobilised in the Palestinian enclave, including Pascal André, who has been on hunger strike since the end of April (see EUROPE 13627/15).

Over the last few days, the collective has been making repeated representations to the European institutions, in the hope of “creating an impetus” to allow a mass influx of humanitarian aid and the effective application of the rights of Palestinian civilians.

“When it comes to the more legal aspects – such as the suspension, or even the complete termination, of the EU-Israel Association Agreement – the unease becomes even more palpable. This is because they know full well that those calling for this suspension are right”, said the former President of the Belgian League for Human Rights, who was there to lend his legal expertise to the collective.

And he added: “All we have to do is apply Article 2 of the agreement, which stipulates that its continuation is subject to respect for human rights and international law”.

The citizens’ movement has sent several letters to the EU institutions, claiming to have received no response.

See the letters sent to the European Commissioners and Presidents of the EU institutions: https://aeur.eu/f/gpr (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)