On Sunday, 11 February 2024, the second day of the Annual Palestine Forum, organized by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Institute for Palestine Studies, ended with the symposium, “The Israeli War on Gaza: Reconstruction Challenges”, moderated by Mohammed Abu-Nimer, the Abdul Aziz Said Chair in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University, Washington, DC. The panel included presentations from Ghassan El Kahlout, Ghassan Abu Sitta, and Ali Al-Za’tari. 

El-Kahlout, Director of the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies and Associate Professor in Conflict Management and Humanitarian Action at the Doha Institute, began by noting the extreme sense of uncertainty that distinguishes the post-war landscape in Gaza from other conflicts and that the reconstruction will be a unique challenge. El-Kahlout detailed the extent of destruction in residential buildings and infrastructure, in addition to the impact of the war on healthcare and hospitals. He noted the political and administrative challenges, local, regional, and international difficulties, the restriction of access to resources, the material costs of reconstruction, the human losses, and the volume of displacement. El-Kahlout concluded that with regard to financing, donor conferences often have symbolic value, and that there is no other way to truly start the reconstruction process without removing Israel from the equation and bypassing the historical obstacles to reducing Israel’s role in the reconstruction of Gaza. El-Kahlout also stressed that it is necessary to support rapid capacity building for local grassroots organizations and municipalities and similar institutions, achieve an appropriate level of accountability and transparency in the process, and develop the ability to adapt to rapid changes in conditions on the ground.

British Palestinian physician and professor of surgery, Ghassan Abu Sitta, presented on the systematic deconstruction of the health sector in Gaza, in a deliberate attempt to make the territory uninhabitable long term, and explaining how this was a distinguishing factor in Israel’s current war on Gaza. Consequently, the challenges of rebuilding the health sector in Gaza have become more urgent, further exacerbated by the presence of more than 70,000 wounded in need of surgery or facing chronic, life-threatening illnesses that require immediate treatment. Abu Sitta emphasized that patients in Gaza cannot wait for the health system to be rebuilt, and consequently has developed a framework to meet the urgent needs of the population immediately after the ceasefire, with a phased approach to rehabilitating the health system in a way that meets the most urgent needs at the appropriate time.

The final speaker, Al-Za’tari, stressed that the conditions in Gaza today are not like any other conflict. Every branch of Zionism seeks total destruction which means that continuous humanitarian relief will be required for many years to come. In parallel with a ceasefire, Gaza is in need of rapid recovery campaigns for infrastructure and reconstruction, which will demand political and operational coordination and cooperation between donors, beneficiaries, intermediaries, and the occupier. While the UN describes the situation in Gaza as a chronic, accumulated crisis, Al-Zaatari finds that the current UN mechanism depends on a multi-sectoral assessment followed by an action plan, financing through donor conferences, and implementation in two stages – life-saving relief and early recovery. Meanwhile, reconstruction is not presumed in these conferences and plans. While there is no doubt that UN bodies are delivering whatever aid they can through restricted channels in the face of obstructive procedures and security risks, this remote assessment is not as accurate as the direct and detailed local assessment that is needed to form a foundation to develop a convincing funding and implementation plan.

The Forum continues until 12 February, with three parallel panels in the first session, another four in the second and last session, and two symposiums in the afternoon and evening.