Deconstructing John Kerry’s address to the Gaza Donors Conference

This is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.

Yesterday the British Parliament demonstrated that it can talk, even debate, the situation in Israel and Palestine, name names and come to a conclusion, even if it is only symbolic. Unlike the political non-discussion in the United States.

Yes in Parliament there were abstentions and shenanigans. Political grandstanding is an age-old tradition in the United Kingdom. But the contrast is telling. Our government officials can’t summon up the courage to say anything intelligent. Or honest.

Case in point is Secretary of State, John Kerry. His address at the Gaza Donors Conference in Cairo on Sunday was remarkably vacant, if not disingenuous.

Reading through Kerry’s address paragraph by paragraph is an exercise in futility. Yet the political ramifications are extreme. Everyone knows that after the Gaza war a profound reckoning is needed. Yet John Kerry – and the Gaza Donors Conference – isn’t even close.

In the face of Gaza’s suffering, Kerry’s address – and America’s commitment – is non-committal, without substance and nostalgic for the very peace process that helped bring about this catastrophe. Remarkably after Gaza, Kerry wants a redo.

Yet even these generalizations paint a rosier picture than is found in Kerry’s text. So here goes. Kerry’s text is indented. My commentary follows:

Thank you very much, Foreign Minister Shoukry. Thank you Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Vice Prime Minister Mustafa; our co-host, Foreign Minister Brende; and our colleague Cathy Ashton, the EU High Representative. I want to particularly thank President Sisi and Foreign Minister Shoukry for their leadership and for their partnership in their efforts for the Palestinian Authority and to help bring all of us here today for their work with Israel on the ceasefire. And we respect and thank them also for their partnership with the United States, not just in working towards a durable ceasefire, but also in helping to pull together, and helping to pull together this massive reconstruction effort.

With a shout out for the “President” of Egypt, Kerry sets the tone. Kerry lauds Sisi’s partnership with the United States – Kerry will riff again on this later – and for his work on helping the Palestinian Authority get their act together in Gaza. Also for working with Israel to secure the “durable” ceasefire.

The “massive” reconstruction effort elicits Kerry’s praise. Does Kerry mean the reconstruction effort underway – by all accounts less than massive if, in fact, it has begun – or the need for a massive effort if that ever gets underway? In this opening paragraph at least no reason is given for the massive reconstruction effort needed. Was Gaza hit by a rogue asteroid?

But President Sisi’s efforts, I think it’s fair to say, have really helped to reaffirm the pivotal role that Egypt has played in this region for so long. The same can also be said of Foreign Minister Brende and Norway, whose historic connection and commitment to these issues go back more than two decades to the Oslo Accords, and I’m personally always impressed by the deep engagement of Norway in efforts to make peace, not just here but elsewhere in the world. And of course, President Abbas, thank you for your perseverance and your partnership.

Kerry returns to Sisi and the “pivotal” role Egypt plays in the region. By Kerry’s second paragraph Sisi is rehabilitated. He is no longer a fascist dictator. He is a peace-loving ally.

Egypt is certainly pivotal but the unasked question is whether the people of Gaza should be grateful for the pivotal role Egypt has played. Unlike Kerry, most observers think Egypt has teamed up with Israel to hold Gaza and the Palestinians in check.

About Norway and Oslo, Secretary Kerry might want to check with the Palestinians on this one too. For many Palestinians, Oslo was one of the final nails in their collective coffin. The first Palestinian to make his way into Kerry’s speech is an Oslo creation and survivor, Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas is thanked for his perseverance and partnership. For what and to what end?

This has been a difficult few months on a difficult issue in a difficult neighborhood, and no one feels that more than the people of Gaza. This summer, as we’ve heard in some of the statistics that Secretary-General shared with us, more than half a million Gazans had to flee their homes and seek safety. Twenty thousand homes were destroyed or severely damaged, and more than a hundred thousand people remain displaced. And winter is fast approaching.

Indeed, “difficult” is the emphasis – three times is a tough charm. Starting with a “few months” during which Gaza was bombed into oblivion. I suppose being bombed into oblivion qualifies as “difficult.” Then there’s the “difficult issue” which, surprisingly, Kerry leaves without explanation.

What exactly is the difficult issue? I suppose it might be Hamas – who will be mentioned only once in Kerry’s remarks. Then again, it could be Israel, but Israel has yet to enter Kerry’s rhetorical vision. When Israel comes into play, well, notice that it doesn’t seem to be player at all, let alone a combatant.

Neighborhood issues are then alluded to as they usually are in relation to Israel’s perception of the place it actually lives. But here it seems that everyone, including the Arab countries, is supposed to sign on to the difficult neighborhood issue. There seem to be quite a few difficult neighborhoods from the American standpoint these days. In fact the world seems to be quite “difficult” all around.

I have been to Gaza at a time like this, and I will never forget traveling to Izbet Abed Rabo in Gaza in 2009 and watching children playing in the rubble, seeing little Palestinian girls playing where just months earlier, homes and buildings had stood. The humanitarian challenge then was enormous, and shockingly, amazingly – and every speaker has mentioned we area back yet again – the humanitarian challenge is no less enormous in 2014. So the people of Gaza do need our help desperately – not tomorrow, not next week, but they need it now. And that’s why we are all gathered here.

Here Kerry goes personal, though as usual he doesn’t connect. His personal is not political. Or his politics are the most naïve possible. Being in Gaza before and witnessing the destruction, Kerry harkens back to that particular “humanitarian” challenge. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? We are left to wonder where the “humanitarian” challenges come from. The chances of an asteroid striking Gaza twice in several years seems unlikely.

I am proud, personally, that the people of the United States have been working to do their part. We provided $118 million in immediate humanitarian assistance at the time of the crisis, at its height, and the $84 million that we also provided to UNRWA for operations.

Kerry’s going personal again – he’s so proud the American people are doing their part. Then the pride-worthy amount – 118 million dollars plus – wait for it! – an additional 84 million dollars. Notice when the extra dollars were allotted – “at the time of the crisis, at its height.” Those of us in the real world assume that what Kerry means by crisis is when Israel invaded Gaza and destroyed everything in sight. Once again, the cause of the crisis and the occasion of American generosity lack specificity. Did the height of the crises occur at the same time the United States was resupplying Israel with arms and munitions?

Today, I’m pleased to announce an additional immediate $212 million in assistance to the Palestinian people, and obviously we will have to see how things develop in the days ahead. But this immediate money will mean immediate relief and reconstruction, and this money will help meet the Palestinian Authority’s budget needs. This money will, we hope, help promote security and stability, and economic development, and it will provide for immediate distribution of food, medicine, and shelter materials for hundreds of thousands for the coming winter. And it is money that is going to help reconstruct Gaza’s damaged water and sanitation system, so that Palestinians in Gaza will have access to water that they can drink and homes that they can actually start rebuilding.

I haven’t heard the recorded speech but I wonder if Kerry whispered the embarrassing low amount offered. I haven’t checked but I’ll bet that the Heinz fortune he married into is probably worth more than the American people’s generosity. Can the small amount offered be stretched to cover the issues Kerry mentions – food, water, sanitation, medicine, shelter and development?

Since Gaza has been leveled – still no mention of who did it – it seems that such a small percentage of the more than 3 billion dollars that Israel, the unmentioned nation, gets from the United States annually, is embarrassing. On the video is Kerry red faced with shame or beaming like a heroic rescuer?

Taken together, the United States has provided more than $400 million in assistance to the Palestinians over this last year, $330 million just since this summer’s conflict began. But I will say to all of you, and I think everybody knows it: We come here with a sense of awesome responsibility and even resignation about the challenge that we face because we all know that so much more needs to be done, even though there have been encouraging steps.

If I were Kerry, I would leave America’s generosity to be assumed. Why mention such a paltry sum again? Kerry here at least mentions that there’s been a conflict. But Israel’s invasion and destruction of Gaza? File it under the assumed name – “summer conflict.”

I’m particularly grateful to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Special Coordinator Robert Serry for helping to broker an important agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for an end-use monitoring mechanism. And we appreciate Israel’s cooperation in continuing to provide humanitarian access to Gaza through its crossing, which is essential if all of this is going to work.

Israel finally enters, with the United Nations, though it’s after the unstated invasion/war and without attribution of blame. Israel is mentioned but in relation to what the world knows as Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Kerry is silent on the blockade yet lauds the agreement – not with the still unnamed Hamas but with the Palestinian Authority – that allows a monitoring for some “humanitarian” materials to enter Gaza.

From Kerry’s address, it seems that the Palestinian Authority is the governing body in Gaza or the governing body to be – which for some unstated reason is essential. The Palestinian Authority is pictured here as negotiating with Israel as innocent parties on behalf of Gaza, which apparently has existed with no government at all.

We welcome that Israel has recently announced new measures that should allow increased trade in agricultural goods between Gaza and the West Bank, and more permits for Palestinian business leaders to enter Israel. We hope to see many more positive steps announced and implemented in the coming weeks and months. And we need to get back to the difficult work not just of reconstruction and recovery in Gaza, but of actually building Gaza’s economy for the long term and developing its institutions under the Palestinian Authority.

Kerry’s other shoe drops. Israel is brought in, now as a seemingly interested third party generously willing to allow trade to increase rather. Israel is decidedly not a country that blockaded Gaza, invaded and destroyed it and is now continuing its blockade.

Palestinian business leaders will now be able to enter Israel, I assume to buy Israeli goods for the reconstruction and recovery of Gaza. This is helpful for Kerry’s long term plan to build Gaza’s economy and – with Gaza’s new government – to develop institutions under the Palestinian Authority. In Kerry’s rhetoric the Palestinian Authority isn’t being imposed on the people of Gaza. It’s obvious for all at the conference, including the obviously absent Israel, that this is the right thing to do. Kudos for cooperation. Soon everything will be okay.

The Palestinian Authority and President Abbas must be empowered in all that we do in order to define and determine Gaza’s future. There is, simply, no other way forward, and all of us here need to help the ability of the Palestinian Authority to be able to deliver. There are many steps that we can take. We can and should see Palestinian Authority customs officials at Gaza’s borders. We can and should help the PA to expand its control in Gaza, streamline Gaza’s workforce, and continue to play a key role in the end-use monitoring mechanism for Gaza. And this is absolutely essential, because as long as there is a possibility that Hamas could fire rockets on Israeli civilians at any time, the people of Gaza will remain at risk of future conflict. And even as we work to reconstruct Gaza, we cannot lose sight of the importance of the long-term economic investment for the Palestinian economy that can create a vibrant private sector.

Now the details lacking about Israel are specified but only in relation to the Palestinian Authority’s assumption of power in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority will be present at the borders, in streamlining Gaza’s workforce and in monitoring what comes inside and out of Gaza lest any military (terrorist?) use of goods occur. Finally Hamas, up to now ostensibly the governing force in Gaza but made invisible by Kerry, is mentioned but only in relation to the firing of rockets on Israeli civilians.

This is the first mention of warfare in Kerry’s address; at risk Israeli civilians might occasion another conflict. For Kerry, this seems to be the cause of the “summer conflict.” Is this the view of all the donors? Unmentioned in Kerry’s view is any reason for Palestinian resistance to Israel. Destruction then and destruction in the future has to do with the safety of Israeli civilians.

Notice that throughout there is silence on the issue of Palestinian causalities. Is this to lay the groundwork for Gaza’s recovery and thriving in the future? Everything needs to be rebuilt but the death and injury count isn’t important enough to recite. An awakened press core might ask Secretary Kerry if any Palestinians lives have been lost during the “summer conflict.” If so, how many and in what circumstances?

Shortly after I became Secretary of State, working with the Quartet and international local business leaders, we launched the Initiative for the Palestinian Economy. The IPE is a comprehensive plan for Palestinian economic growth in the billions of dollars. And this effort is not about donor projects or corporate social responsibility; we’re talking about real investment. We had McKinsey & Company come in and make analysis of every sector of the Palestinian economy and make a determination about those areas where you could actually reduce unemployment from 21 percent to 8 percent in a period of three years. We’re talking about real investment that produces real jobs and opportunities for thousands of Palestinians, and that is what is going to make the difference over the long term.

As a rhetorical flourish, Kerry backtracks to his previous peace plan which everyone, including that disinterested third party, Israel, just about laughed him out of town for. He still believes his version of two-states, which he never detailed, but he wants everyone to be assured that his business plan isn’t about welfare.

Gazans in their rubble should listen up. Under Kerry’s revived initiative Gaza’s unemployment will decrease from 21 to 8 percent in three years. At the end of those three years Gazans may be working somewhere, with or without a place to live. That is if the water/electricity/sanitation/roads etc., etc., are ready. Kerry seems to be saying to the people of Gaza that if you sign on to his vision, in some years you will have a job, a home and running water – with electricity.

Now, we were making real progress, laying down specific projects, creating new opportunities for goods and peoples to move in and out, when tragically conflict once again replaced dialogue. But what I really want to underscore to everyone is what all of us know, but not everyone perhaps wants to confront. This is the third time in less than six years that together with the people of Gaza, we have been forced to confront a reconstruction effort. This is the third time in less than six years that we’ve seen war break out and Gaza left in rubble. This is the third time in less than six years that we’ve had to rely on a ceasefire, a temporary measure, to halt the violence.

Now, I don’t think there’s any person here who wants to come yet again to rebuild Gaza only to think that two years from now or less we’re going to be back at the same table talking about rebuilding Gaza again because the fundamental issues have not been dealt with. A ceasefire is not peace, and we’ve got to find a way to get back to the table and help people make tough choices, real choices. Choices that everybody in this room and outside of it understands have been on the table for too long. Choices about more than just a ceasefire. Because even the most durable of ceasefires is not a substitute for peace. Even the most durable of ceasefires is not a substitute of security for Israel and a state and dignity for the Palestinians.

As everyone here knows, last year the United States joined Israel and the Palestinian Authority in renewed peace negotiations towards a final status settlement. The truth that has not been talked about very much, and there are still legitimate reasons for maintaining that respect for the process, but the truth is that real and significant process was made on substantive issues. Longtime gaps were narrowed and creative ideas were actively being deployed to solve remaining differences.

Okay, Kerry wants everyone to recognize the urgency of the situation – again without specifics. Three times in the last six years – thus biannually – a reconstruction of Gaza has been necessary. Kerry mentions war for the first time here – as in seeing “war break out.” Gaza has been left in “rubble,” the result of “violence.” Yet assuming there are at least two sides in a conflict isn’t it amazing that only Gaza is in rubble? It seems awfully one-sided in terms of destruction. Again, Kerry is silent about causalities.

If only everyone had listened to Kerry in the first place, the “summer conflict” would never have happened! If only the “tough choices” had been made! Sure, Secretary Kerry, as he says, everyone in the rooms knows what that those tough choices were and are. But Kerry never state them and we are left, like the people of Gaza, in the dark.

Could Kerry shed some light on those tough choices so everyone really knows where we stand? Do any of those of those choices have to be made by that disinterested third party, Israel? Kerry does mention in a formulaic way – “security for Israel and a state and dignity for Palestinians” – but everyone knows this is code for generalizations and that nothing will get done.

Is what the Gaza Donors Conference was really all about?

So I say clearly and with deep conviction here today: The United States remains fully, totally committed to returning to the negotiations not for the sake of it, but because the goal of this conference and the future of this region demand it. There is nothing sustainable about the status quo. In the end, the underlying causes of discontent and suspicion and anger that exist in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza can only be eliminated by resolving the conflict itself. There is no way to fully satisfy the parties’ various demands, no way to bring the full measure of recovery to Gaza, without a long-term prospect for peace that builds confidence about the future. And everything else will be a Band-Aid fix, not a long-term resolution. Everything else will still regrettably fail to address the underlying discontent and suspicion in both Israel and Gaza and the West Bank. Everything else will be the prisoner of impatience that has brought us to this unacceptable and unsustainable status quo.

Make no mistake: What was compelling about a two-state solution a year ago is even more compelling today. Now, I know that in Israel as well as in Gaza and the West Bank, most people would quickly tell you today that as much as they want peace, they think it is a distant dream, something that’s just not possible now. The problem is, having said that, no one then offers an alternative that makes sense. I say it is unacceptable to want peace but then buy into an attitude that makes it inevitable that you cannot have peace. It is unacceptable to simply shrug one’s shoulders, say peace isn’t possible now, and then by doing nothing to make it possible, actually adds to the greater likelihood of a downward spiral.

So I say to you clearly and with great conviction: The United States will continue to work with our partners to find a way forward. We are convinced that the needs to both parties on even the most critical issues can be met, and that with common sense, goodwill, and courage we can not only address the long-term needs of Gaza, but we can actually achieve a lasting peace between Israel, the Palestinians, and all their neighbors. We have been clear from day one about the difficulty of the challenge ahead, and we knew there would be tough times. But in the end, we all want the same things: security for the Israelis; freedom, dignity, and a state for the Palestinians; peace and prosperity for both peoples.

So this is a time for leadership. It’s a time for leaders to lead. And at a time when extremism, which offers no constructive vision for the future, is capitalizing on the vacuum, it is imperative for all of us to fill that vacuum with a prospect of peace. That’s what the people of our countries expect from us, and that’s what we must offer them – no less. So out of this conference must come not just money, but a renewed commitment from everybody to work for a peace that meets the aspirations of all – for Israelis, for Palestinians, and for all the peoples of this region. And I promise you the full commitment of President Obama, myself, and the United States of America to try to achieve that. Thank you. (Applause.)

Kerry ends on a hopeful note. We can’t let the still unexplained happen again. Fear of the “downward spiral” that Kerry enunciated at the beginning of his failed peace process is back again. We can’t let Israelis and Palestinians – and the people of the region – down. So the conference isn’t just about money which is good since the United States – and Europe as well – commits very little.

Rather, the conference is about Kerry’s vision which everyone in the room, except for him, knows has failed. Unless he actually realizes this failure as well. That would make Kerry’s address more than vacant. It would make his address and Kerry himself a recidivist in hypocrisy and a purveyor of fraud.