Discussion on the War in Gaza at World Economic Forum

Of course, we are hosting this kind of negotiation between the two parties and there is progress, of course, on certain issues, but still, there is fundamental issues that there must be a sort of compromise from both sides to accept so that we can reach a solution. Again, I think in my analysis, the situation is more complicated because of the internal political setup in both sides. I’m speaking here about Israel and Hamas. Because if you make this kind of evaluation or analysis, you will find a lot of pressure internally in both sides not to reach any kind of compromise. And this is what makes it very hard because here you are not speaking, unfortunately, I’m going to say it like this, you are not seeking the optimum and right solution that maybe can achieve the public interest for everybody. You are speaking about your own agenda that you don’t want to tolerate despite you know that it’s not maybe unfair.

(01:29)
So I just wanted to explicit this issue and this is the moment. At this moment, this is what we are facing and this is what we are trying to do our utmost best really to convince both sides to reach this because only if we manage to do it, this will stop, of course, the Rafah attack. I just wanted to add something that, of course, had severe direct impact on Egypt. I’m speaking here about the economic, of course, spillover. Just to give you numbers, of course, the revenues of the Suez Canal because of the global trade has been cut by more than 50% in this last four months. Of course, this has had a negative impact on our economy, but again, our most important objective now is how to reach a settlement between the two sides so that we can enter in the process agreement and peace agreement.

Thank you so much and also thank you to UN Egypt for all your diplomatic efforts there. It’s really appreciated. If I could move to Prime Minister Khasawneh of Jordan, a similar question. Obviously, a big stakeholder country. Help us understand for the here and now on the situation in Gaza, what is your reading but also what is Jordan, we all know, of course, there is a lot of aid also and a lot of efforts from the part of Jordan, so help us understand what is going on. It would also be good because, of course, this is not done in isolation.

(03:12)
So this crisis has tremendous impact also on the overall Palestinian economy including the West Bank. There have been, of course, its impact on, for example, the persons that are able to work elsewhere. So some of those incomes are no longer panning out in the Palestinian economy. How do you also view that given also the fact that, for example, a number of private sector entities including some of the Jordanian banks are also very active in the Palestinian economy? Over to you.

Thank you so much Merak. It’s a pleasure and honor to be with this distinguished panel. And let me just quickly echo what Prime Minister Madbouly kicked off his valuable comments with by again reiterating our gratitude and thanks to Saudi Arabia for hosting this important event and particularly to the custodian of the two holy sites and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This is indeed an extremely timely event at a very interesting, challenging, and perhaps depressing time. And yes, a lot of diplomatic activities underway and the epicenter of this diplomatic activity is the continued Israeli aggression on Gaza and the potential for a catastrophic and pending additional aggression and operation in Rafah, which by all standards will be a catastrophe that adds onto a catastrophe that has led to conditions close to famine in Gaza and to numbers of deaths and injuries and civilian destruction and reconstruction that is estimated to be in the vicinity of $18. 7 billion, which is around 93% of the GDP of Gaza and the West Bank in the preceding years.

(05:07)
And this in itself is quite horrific with an entire decimation of the medical infrastructure in Gaza, the educational infrastructure in Gaza, both at the level of universities and at the level of schools. The fact that today we have around 180 women in Gaza daily giving birth in the midst of rubble and an estimation by a lot of UN and humanitarian agencies that 1.1 million children require psychological treatment and assistance and help as a result of the wreckage that we have seen and as a result of the trauma that they have been witnessing. On the Arab side, really, the Arab side moved quickly post-October seven to reiterate what is an unequivocal Arab position in fundamentally rejecting the targeting of civilians wherever they are and whoever they might be.

(06:02)
And this is a longstanding Arab and Jordanian position. What followed and what ensued is quite catastrophic and fundamentally, it does tick the box, regrettably, of each and every definition that me as a student in law throughout my educational career, it ticks the boxes of war crimes, grave breaches, violations of international humanitarian law, and the whole range of international humanitarian legal literature and principles and standards that had been not for the protection that is accorded partially and that’s luckily, perhaps now diminishing, it’s simply and easily just shameful. And this problem did not begin on the 7th of October. This entire problem and catastrophe is really the product of 70 years of continued Israeli occupation and the rejection to recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinians to achieve their globally, internationally recognized aspirations, and chiefly among them, their right to self-determination and to the establishment of their territorially, contiguous, independent Palestinian state that live side by side in peace and prosperity and security with Israel on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

(07:37)
As a requisite that fundamentally would also strengthen Israel’s security, regional stability, and the regional prosperity and the prospects for regional integration and for unleashing the potential of this region, which is quite vast and which has consistently been bolted and held back as a result of the continuation of what is at the core of the broader Arab- Israeli discourse, which is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the non-realization of the Palestinian national aspirations and namely, the independent Palestinian state in the context of the two-state solution, which is a solution, the only solution that the world seemingly does actually recognize with the exception of the current movers and shakers in the Israeli political spectrum, regrettably.

(08:25)
And the problem is that, again, our Israeli friends, or some of them, seem to continue to succumb to the notion of repeating the insanity of trying the same thing again and expecting different results, which is not engaging seriously in a political horizon that would fundamentally take us to crossing the finish line in the context of realizing a two-state solution and working to systematically weaken a Palestinian partner in the context of the defined legitimate Palestinian sole representative, which is the PLO and the PA, and undermining the PA and the PLO systematically and the work and the function of the PLA by withholding taxes, by investing in the schism that existed between Gaza and between the West Bank, which are the two integral components of a potential Palestinian state and not empowering the PLO, the PA to be able to be a partner that can end that schism and that can be fundamentally the partner that can bring closure to the long-standing Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.

(09:43)
We seem to be falling in the trap, fundamentally, of following the agenda of narrow-minded politicians and political calculus, frankly speaking. And it is quite catastrophic because today it is about the political calculus of some politicians

… and Israel at the expense of frankly, the security of Israelis, the safety of Israelis, the safety of Jordanians, Egyptians, Saudis, Arabs and all in our region and beyond the region into really, global peace and security. And we have seen the skirmishes between Iran and Israel a couple of weeks ago, which again, they were averted from a full-blown regional escalation that we have consistently been warning from in the event that this madness and this assault on Gaza and aggression on Gaza continues. And that threat again, continues. Today, the Rafah operation would be catastrophic. The world should unite in bringing about a sustained ceasefire and ensures the continuous and sustained flow of humanitarian assistance and goods into Gaza. We have assumed the leading role in Jordan early on, four months ago in streamlining the efforts aimed at achieving headway with making humanitarian aid and assistance reach Gaza when the king hosted a meeting for the different humanitarian agencies in Amman.

(11:19)
We were pioneering and fundamentally introducing the innovative aspect of airdrops for humanitarian assistance, realizing that this is not sufficient, and we have basically mobilized continuously to attempt and try to generate sufficient leverage and pressure to ensure the opening of all border crossings, all of the border crossings, to allow the crossing of goods that are needed, because nothing compensates for a continuous sustained, uninterrupted land bridge. And we are now continuing to basically push again for Israel to enable the UN personnel in Gaza to conduct the necessary distributions. This is, as Sigrid Kaag would correctly point, this is not about counting trucks, although counting trucks is important. What used to enter to Gaza before October 7th used to be 500 trucks under normal conditions of siege, but not of aggression and decimated infrastructure and human rights violations, and the lack of the basic requisites of life and the being on the brink of famine for the Palestinians.

(12:26)
Today we have an average of 320 trucks that basically are going in theoretically, but in practical terms, we really don’t know whether there is an effective, efficient and safe distribution system. The only distribution system that can work, that can be efficient is that, that is associated with the UN system, with the UN personnel, with the different UN agencies and organizations operating in Gaza. And that’s why Israel has to really enable the UN system to function and work to ensure the sustained and sustainable flow of the goods that are carried on those trucks. And the estimate is that this sustained, uninterrupted flow will have to be in the vicinity of probably double the original number of the 500 trucks and for many, many months to come so that it can meet the basic requisites of the humanitarian catastrophe that we see in Gaza today.

(13:18)
Today, some of the Israeli politicians are basically taking this in the direction of focusing only on having an operation in Rafah or not having an operation in Rafah. An operation in Rafah will be catastrophic, but this is not the epicenter of the issue. Today, what we need to see fundamentally is definitely no operation in Rafah, definitely a ceasefire and definitely moving and shifting away from a thought process that attempts the day after when we get to that point, of just attempting to manage the situation and to manage Gaza. What we have to look at is an irreversible pathway towards realizing the two-state solution in the context of irreversible steps that would materialize and crystallize the two-state solution so that we are not in this bind again in a couple of years and in a manner that would fundamentally, again, drag the region and perhaps the entire world into further tension and endanger global peace and global security.

(14:15)
Economically, of course, we’re touched and we’re severely touched. We have a drop in our general revenues and a tendency and an inflationary uptick as a result of the tensions in the Red Sea, and the association of that with the increase of the premiums of insurance on ships that are crossing from the Red Sea and the diversions that are taking place as an alternative route to the Cape of Good Hope. And also, the increase in cost associated with that, which has fundamentally doubled or tripled from Southeast Asia, almost doubled from Europe and from America. Again, today, the focus is really to end this Israeli aggression to bring about a credible political pathway that’s irreversible, that takes us to the two-state solution, because this is what will entrench regional peace, regional security and regional stability.

(15:15)
And frankly, to empower the Palestinian partner, which is the PLO and the PA, to be able to again, satisfy the needed grievances and legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. But again, to take this region into fundamentally, a closure on the Palestinian-Israeli side through the materialization of the two-state solution to unleash and unlock the full potential of this region, which is vast, and which we have basically seen in the context of what is presented in conferences such as the one that’s hosted by our gracious host in Saudi Arabia today. Thank you.

Mr. Prime Minister, thank you so much. If I could just have a very quick follow-up, if you wouldn’t mind addressing it briefly. Of course, I know we don’t have a representative here of the Palestinian authority, but also just to understand your perspective on what this means for particularly the West Bank economy, how fragile it is right now as a result of this crisis?

Sometimes what’s missed when we focus on the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza, and I think the sheer size of that courage in catastrophe is probably deviating us from focusing on what’s going on in the West Bank. And what’s going on in the West Bank in terms of settler violence, in terms of economic conditions, in terms of lost opportunity, in terms of transgressions on the Palestinians, in terms of even killings and deaths, 509 people were killed in the West Bank. This is basically a record number in many, many, many years. Home demolitions and those who have been evicted from homes in the West Bank since the 7th of October numbered around 280, as opposed to an already horrific monthly record of 128 prior to that.

(17:04)
So the increased settler violence in the West Bank, the loss of economic opportunity in the West Bank, the withholding of the tax corrections that the Israeli government levies on behalf of the Palestinian authority, the loss of job opportunities is all creating dire conditions there that we realize are quite significant and serious and are not sufficiently focused on, as a result of what’s going on in Gaza. But his Majesty the King was very quick to really recognize that this is happening and this is why some of our strategic reserves of wheat and barley were directed to assist the Palestinian authority.

(17:40)
And also, we have deployed a field hospital to complement and assist the Palestinian authority and the health sector in the West Bank, and we deployed a hospital to Nablus, in addition to two field hospitals that operate in Gaza. Yes, the economy in the West Bank is quite dire and again, this is directly attributed to the dis-empowerment of the supposed partner, systematically by some of the Israeli government that is occurring and that is fundamentally, again, done by default, but most likely purposefully. And I hope that basically, we move into a more wise approach that serves the Israelis, the Arabs and the world at large. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Let me move to Sigrid Kaag. You are responsible for the UN, for both the humanitarian aspect, but also you are the reconstruction coordinator as well, so you’re spanning both functions. You had a testimony to the UN Security Council, one of your, I think you have a regular testimony there. So the last, you called for a paradigm shift that is required in terms of addressing the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Could you please explain what you meant?

Yeah, thank you very much. And of course, let me also express my thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting us and being here. I think a lot of the important points have been raised by both Prime Ministers of Egypt and Jordan. The paradigm shift is required when it comes to the scale-up sustainability, predictability and diversification of humanitarian assistance to Gaza. We’ve moved from food which was urgent, dealing with a situation of near famine conditions certainly in the North.

(19:36)
People, the majority are almost all citizens in Gaza, Palestinians being food insecure, to now having some supplies and the Israeli government has responded to pressures and requirements and asks also by the UN in the adoption of a number of measures on 5th of April. My ask is that much more is needed and it is about what the Prime Minister said. We need to know what’s coming, but we also need diverse goods.

… You cannot deal with the tremendous impact of this crisis on the civilian population with only flour, or only limited types of goods. People need to have healthy produce, they need to have medication, they need to have access to treatment. Given the scale of destruction and the inability to reach, but also the level and the impact of the crisis on the civilian population, we’re calling for this paradigm shift, and that’s measurable. So we’re not counting trucks, we’re seeing what gets distributed and which types of assistance reaches people.

(20:31)
That’s quite a complex exercise because the ability to distribute in Gaza is still encountering a number of obstacles. Some practical, road repairs where a tank can go, a truck cannot go. The behavior at checkpoints needs to alter, we need effective deconfliction… Oops, sorry. The example I tend to wave my hands are very un-Dutch. But the tragic incident with the WCK that obviously led to the final pressure point is exemplary of what the over 200 humanitarian workers have faced and they’ve lost their lives in Gaza.

(21:10)
Another unprecedented number. You can correlate that to the high number of victims, women, children, and the elderly. And this goes on. So the paradigm shift needs to be in the focus of the now, the ability to actually reach people. But also if we look ahead, because needless to say, the reconstruction efforts, not only politically but also from an investment perspective, are all tied to the political parameters, the two-state solution. But from a humanitarian and from a human perspective, we cannot ask civilians to wait. Children need to be schooled. Over one million children are not being schooled.

(21:47)
It will be a school in a tent potentially for a while, as the UNRWA educational facilities are actually used as shelters for families. How do we provide for shelter? How do we provide for the rehabilitation of the health clinics? If we want to avert a further epidemic of communicable diseases which are predictable in Gaza right now, given the absence of water, given the absence sewage treatment of sanitation, we need to act now.

(22:17)
And this cannot wait for the political solution. We have to be clear on the parameters and the immediate return of the Palestinian authority to resume its governance. A second aspect of paradigm shift that is needed, and I’ll pause here then immediately to give space to Samer, is stabilization. Without security, without a resumption of security services that are credible and that are an aspect of governance, it’s very difficult to implement. Because lawlessness has occurred as the Palestinian de facto police was no longer able, allowed to operate. Despair of people took over, but also lawlessness.

(22:57)
In a vacuum, there’s always a filler. And in this case it’s criminal gangs, which increased prices that we’ve tackled, but we need governance of that. Security and security services are a key component. So the paradigm shift is in the now, but it’s also looking towards the future, because ultimately with the level of destruction and despair, and I’ve been to Gaza now four times, I intend to have my office there. I will be there very often because leadership is, I think being on the ground. People tell you that, “We feel like zombies.” The mental health crisis is humongous. If we can’t reach, if we’re not there, we’re not here for the now but also the future and create hope through investment, rehabilitation and focus on the political effort. I think we failed the Palestinians countless times and they deserve more. Human rights are for everybody all the time. Human beings are our fellow human beings. So political will is what’s needed. We know we can move mountains with political will, and there is no substitute, neither investment nor humanitarian assistance. There is no substitute for political will, and that’s what’s required. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Ms. Kaag. Samer Khoury. As I said, of course you are a Palestinian private sector leader, engaged not only in your industry, but I know you’re very active in Palestine overall. I have known you for a while. Now, what more can be done in this current situation. And I know and Ms. Kaag, I think you’ve outlined some of the things, but also from a private sector perspective, I know you have some ideas. What more can be done in this situation?

First I’ll start for all of us around this room to pray for the people who lost their lives from both sides. And another point, we pray for the politicians worldwide to stop this massacre because we all cannot stop it. I’m going to touch on water, energy, hospital with specific ask from the private sector. The water, to give everybody perspective. 80% of the water and Gaza before was coming from local aquifers, 300 wells. The private sector is willing to upgrade that.

(25:31)
What we simply need Israel to allow us to access and import certain material that we’re not allowed to import. Second point, diesel. We all know there’s very limited amount of diesel that goes into Gaza today. That’s on water. Energy, Gaza used to have 400 megawatts, 120 from Israel, 70 from the existing power plant, 40 from Egypt, 60 solar power plant. Allow us to use, bring back the 60. That’s an immediate 60.

(26:04)
And I was discussing with the Egyptian prime minister, let’s make a task force to get back the 40 megawatts from Egypt. That’s 100 megawatts. We can do that in a matter of weeks, not month. On the hospital, healthcare. Only eight out of the 40 hospitals. We are willing as private sector to partner with governments. Let’s choose 10 hospitals, north, south, but the most important thing Israel, to allow us to import both the staff and the machinery. So these are specific practical ideas. I hope through your good offices and your good office, we can make task force work on them.

If I may just ask, a number of indeed the very specific proposals and requirements I would say, Samer has outlined, we are definitely in discussion and in negotiation on that because nothing will function without it. And indeed, when you look at the future, the so-called discussion on dual use will not allow for reconstruction. It needs to be restarted. We need everything to be allowed that is part of making Gaza livable again, and have prospects for the future as part of the one state, which is Palestine, in this case. Part of the two state solution, but the one state part which is Palestine.

So really using this moment also to think about the future in these efforts. Just to also share, we have had of course some pre-discussions also with other members of the Palestinian community here. And just to say also, for example, we know there is about 80,000 university students in Gaza right now that are unable to go to lectures. And so of course, and I have also seen that there are many initiatives that are trying to connect them to other university institutions in the region or elsewhere for them to be able to continue, at least online.

(28:05)
Also, maybe not known as much to the general public, but there is tremendous high-tech talent among the Palestinians. Actually Gaza has amazing high-tech talent, it should be more widely known. And so of course, also how are we tapping that talent and those professionals that may be either in Gaza or elsewhere? How is industry and other institutions, are we innovative enough to reach out to those professionals and actually enable them not only to contribute to the economic life, but also of course make a living in this situation?

(28:48)
So just further on that, if I could, I did say that we would like to also touch upon a little bit the diplomatic outlook. If I could then just finish with the two prime ministers? Obviously, and if we look at how, for example, Mr. Blinken’s visit was announced here, there are very explicitly also efforts to say, okay, this needs to be part of a wider diplomatic framework. Saudi Arabia is also part of that.

(29:24)
You represent two countries that have been in diplomatic relations with Israel for a long time, and have personally, I think had a lot of experience with this. So how do you see this latest effort in terms of this new diplomatic framework within Saudi Arabia being involved? And we all know the framework. I would like to start with Minister of Jordan, and then finish with Minister Marvoli.

Thank you so much, Merrick. From what even Samer said, and Sigrid Kaag, it all really hinges on

In Israel, having the effective control on Gaza to enable them to re-function and to rework, whether in the context of electricity, reconstructing hospitals, operating, allowing a sustained and sustainable flow of goods, and personnel, and reconstruction of hospitals, and the electricity. It really all hinges on Israel enabling those infrastructures to function, enabling the private sector to function. I need to just basically maybe point to two things that are quite essential and they’re a cornerstone of fundamentally our policy in Jordan.

(30:34)
We caution and continue to caution from Israel creating conditions that would fundamentally lead to either voluntary or forced transfer of population outside of Gaza in the West Bank in any direction outside Palestine, because this is basically something that will liquidate or aims at liquidating the Palestinian cause, and this is something that also constitutes violations that are clear and material breaches of the peace treaties that Israel has with Jordan, at least, and I’m sure with many other Arab countries.So this is definitely a red tape and this is something that we will not accept and that we will not allow, because it constitutes a material breach of the peace treaty and because it’s basically an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause and the prospect of a two-state solution.

(31:22)
Again, today about diplomatic activity. Repeatedly, the proof has been in the pudding. Management will not cut it. Attempting to short-circuit the Palestinian issue will not cut it. We have had a series of peace treaties, as you’ve correctly pointed, the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, the interim arrangements, and the Oslo Accords that were interim in nature then that should have led to the two-state solution, the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty, the peace treaties that were the product of the Abrahamic Accords between three Arab countries and Israel, and still this did not in any manner fashion all way make the Palestinian issue go away, or usher in prosperity and unlock the potential of the region economically as was anticipated in the context of what the end result of those peace treaties would be, which is really a region that lives in requisite conditions of prosperity, complementarity, economic complementarities, mega projects that are needed, a potential that’s quite vast.

(32:26)
You’ve mentioned IT, and absolutely this is a region that basically you can create a lot of synergies, interdependencies, cooperative aspects that attend to challenges that are global in nature: climate change, or to basically tap into areas that provide vast potential, such as artificial intelligence, such as renewables. You cannot do that without fundamentally re-charting a pathway that’s political, that’s irreversible, taking us into a two-state solution. Reconstruction that you will not have appetite for commitment for reconstruction if the edifice that we attempt to resurrect collectively the day after the ceasefire, which is essential, and certainly, really not allowing further adventures that are catastrophic, such as entertaining thought and ideas of military operation in Rafah where 1.3 million Palestinians are crammed that will lead to a catastrophe. Really what we need to do is to chart that political pathway in a context that’s quite irreversible, that takes us to a two-state solution. Everyone has a role to play, and the Saudis have been leading since 2002, embracing the Arab Peace Initiative, which fundamentally offers Israel comprehensive peace with all the Arab countries, and this was endorsed subsequently also by the Organization of Islamic states, and it offers Israel peace and cooperation with 57 Islamic States in return for peace into the establishment of a Palestinian state in the context of two-state solution that would also ensure undertakings by Arabs and by Muslims to satisfy all the legitimate security concerns that are real that the Israelis have and that we would be willing partners to entertain and to attempt to and to secure as we secure the collective security of our citizens and those of that with the region and the global security at large. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. And let me close this session with the perspective from the Prime Minister of Egypt on the diplomatic framework. Can we use this moment to finally get on a more sustainable diplomatic path to peace?

I don’t want to repeat what my brother here, Mr. Bisher Khasawneh has mentioned, but I would like to state very clear statement. In 1948, the whole world has gathered to recognize the right of Israel to exist. At that time, the resolution mentioned there must be two states. I think it is now. Now, not tomorrow, that the whole world should gather to recognize the right of Palestinian to have their own state. This is something against all what we have learned or hear from the West about human rights, about basic needs, about democracy, about anything that you were raising, and adapting, and pushing us to adapt in our regions. So, it is now or never, I’m speaking seriously.

(35:46)
If you could imagine that postponing this decree or this recognition will solve it or will be pro-Israel interest, you are totally wrong. It will be against the future of Israel itself. You can never imagine what could happen in the future. You are speaking about a nation, a Palestinian nation, that has been raised for 75 years under aggression, occupation, lacking all kinds of basic rights to exist on their original land. So without having their own right that in closed-door, everybody recognizes, but when it comes to reality, and to have a solid situation, everybody is refraining.

(36:36)
So come on. I think it’s now the time for the world if you would like really to have a serious solution in the region, because you can either imagine what could be the escalation in couple of years of such kind of conflict. We have seen approval or what you can call it between Iran and Israel in couple of days. So, what will be the situation for the whole world if a regional war will start? If you can imagine that you are far, you are in a very elusive situation. Everybody will be affected.

(37:20)
So, I think again, it is today that we all together, we have to push for the two-states solution, and then all kind of reconstruction and all kind of humanitarian aid, it will come. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Prime Minister, Madam Kasamer, thank you so much for helping us shed light on what is happening right now in Gaza, but also for your strong contribution in terms of what is the horizon going forward. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.