An interview with Francesca Albanese
'Gaza absolutely needs a ceasefire,' says the UN's rapporteur for Palestinian territories
Dear readers,
Part II for today.
This week hasn’t brought much good news…
As most media are focusing on the coming elections in the United States, another union is under attack: the United Nations…
A person I’ve been really willing to talk to this past year is Francesca Albanese, the UN rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian territories, and that came to fruition this past month of October 2024.
Listen from here: https://www.rfi.fr/en/podcasts/international-report/20241101-un-rapporteur-says-israel-s-war-in-gaza-is-emptying-the-land-completely
Or read below.
As she has recently released a new report, I asked her how to support humanitarian and UN work in Gaza, and how the region can escape a now region-wide conflict between Israel and its neighbours, following Hamas's attack on 7 October 2023.
In the past weeks, UN agencies UNRWA, Unicef and UNOCHA have warned about unprecedented atrocities in northern Gaza and most of the Palestinian territories.
Humanitarian and international law have been undermined by a year of war against civilians in Gaza, according to the UN rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese.
More than 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing extremely critical levels of hunger, according to the UN. Seventy percent of crop fields and livelihoods have been destroyed during the Israeli military offensive.
The war, which has claimed 42,000 lives and left hundreds of thousands wounded, has also spread to the West Bank and Lebanon. Civilians as well as UN peacekeepers have been targeted by Israel's forces.
On 20 October, James Elder, spokesperson for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), condemned the continued attacks on civilians after Israeli airstrikes in Beit Lahiya killed dozens.
The war is affecting the population in a 'horrific way', he added.
On Monday, the Israeli parliament has also approved a controversial bill to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), considered a lifeline for Gaza, from operating on Israeli territory.
The agency has condemned the Israeli parliament’s decision, calling the move “outrageous”.
UN leaders have called for a ceasefire and denounced starvation, mass displacements, atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity, like the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk.
In an op-ed published in The New York Review of Books released on 17 October, Human Rights Watch’s Programme Director Sari Bashi also detailed how the Israeli military’s actions in northern Gaza repeatedly risk the war crimes of forced displacement and using starvation as a weapon of war.
To discuss the implication on human rights and humanitarian work in Gaza but also beyond, this week, I spoke to Francesca Albanese, the UN rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian territories, for the International Report.
Albanese has recently released her latest report on the situation in Gaza and all the the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, before presenting it on Wednesday this week in front of the UN General Assembly.
Albanese discussed the level of suffering, the role and failures of the United Nations and the international community, and underlined the urgency of securing a ceasefire.
"I've used the word catastrophe for the first time back in October 2023," Albanese told me, "when Israel had killed 8000, 6000 people in the first weeks of the conflict and destroyed the entire neighbourhoods, bakeries, churches, and targeted UN buildings and university."
"This is not the way wars are conducted," she added. "Israel occupies that land according to the International Court of Justice, unlawfully. So Israel occupies unlawfully a territory oppressing its people, who of course, retaliate. Then they wage a war against them. It doesn't work that way."
Albanese has advocated for the investigation and prosecution of the crimes that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups or individuals had committed against Israeli civilians on 7 October, at the same time, I've said justice must come in and be delivered or is not the answer because it's against international law.
"As we speak, Israel is running extermination raids, neighbourhood per neighbourhood in the areas that was already forcibly evacuated, ethnically cleansed of nearly 1 million people in the northern Gaza, only 400,000 people remained who have been starved, abused and bombed. What the people in Gaza have gone through is really unspeakable, and now it is emptying the land completely."
Western states make the argument that Israel has the right to protect itself.
"But is it protection?" Albanese asked. "How is what Israel is doing going to make its citizens protected? This is the question. And the blindness at the political level is mind blowing."
Our Q & A:
'Gaza absolutely needs a ceasefire,' says the UN's Francesca Albanese
MC: Francesca Albanese, thanks for being with us. You're an international lawyer and academic, and you were appointed United Nations Special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories in 2022 for a three year term. Firstly, please first tell us a little bit about your work and the purpose of this mission in general.
FA:
Hi. This mandate, as a special rapporteur’s mandate or independent expert of the United Nations, is a responsibility that is given to an individual or a group to monitor and document violations of international law on a given domain, right to food, right to water or a specific country, Iran or Sri Lanka or a Central African Republic. And in my case, it's the occupied Palestinian territories. This mandate is one of the oldest of the UN. It started 30 years ago and I've been the first woman to serve on this position. So what I do, I follow factual developments on the ground, and I do analyse them, against international law, and they make recommendations. And I share my views on what's happening in.
MC: This past year, Gaza in particular. But all Palestinian territories have seen some of the worst days in decades. How would you describe in your words the level of urgency on the ground, and have your team and yourself been able to monitor the situation the way you would hope to do so?
FA:
We have been the first to experience this closure of the Palestinian experience, this isolation of the Palestinians to the outside world and outside witnesses and observers that now has become the rule, because Israel is gradually expelling all UN presences and independent observers from the territory that he took illegally. So, how I do my job? By maintaining regular, almost daily contacts with Palestinians and Israeli organisations, legal associations, lawyers, doctors, UN personnel, journalists. I have a very widespread network of contacts. And of course, the United Nations are my go to source for information, which I then corroborate validate once I have collected the facts. The analysis against international.
MC: Law and the humanitarian situation has been described repeatedly as a catastrophe by the UN and also most NGOs on the ground, especially doctors from all over the world, including what we now estimate as 42,000 people who died, but maybe thousands more under the rubbles, and 17,000 children made orphans. We've been aware of starvation, insecurity, extreme pollution, no sanitation and so on. How can the UN tackle such a situation? And what do you want to tell or listeners about the role of the international community?
FA:
Look, I think that I've used the word catastrophe for the first time back in October, when Israel had killed 8000, or at least 6000 people, in the first weeks of the conflict. And destroyed entire neighbourhoods, Bakeries of churches targeted UN buildings. It looked catastrophic to me because this is not the way wars are conducted. And again, I had a problem with the framing because you cannot wage a war against the land you occupy. Israel occupies that land according to the International Court of Justice, unlawfully. So Israel occupies unlawfully territory oppressing people who of course retaliate and then they wage a war against them. So while I've advocated for the prosecution of the crimes that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups or individuals had committed against Israeli civilians on October 7th, at the same time, I've said justice must come in and be delivered or is not the answer because it's against international law. And then what has happened has been a further nosediving into this precipice. And of course, catastrophe is now a word that doesn't describe the inferno on Earth that Gaza has become, whose full picture will only be available when the dust settles, and I don't know when it will happen and if Israel will leave anyone alive. Because, look, as we speak, Israel is running extermination raids, neighbourhood per neighbourhood in the areas that was already forcibly evacuated, ethnically cleansed of nearly 1 million people in the northern Gaza, only 400,000 people remained who have been starved, abused, bombed. Would the people in Gaza have gone through is really unspeakable, and now it is emptying the land completely in order to. And they say that the ministers and the military leaders and religious leaders that Israel will reoccupy North and Gaza, and then they challenge those like myself who claim this is settler colonialism. But if it's in the same words that the Israelis are using, why can't we believe them? Why can't we take the Israelis. Seriously, in the face of this, I see part of the international community completely, completely idle in the face of this monstrosity. Mainly Western states who keep on making up arguments and talking about fighting about self-defence. But Israel has the right to protect itself. Is it protection? How is what Israel is doing going to make its citizens protected ever after this? This is the question. And the blindness at the political level is mind blowing.
MC: Can we reflect on the role of the UN recently with Israel's further attacks in southern Lebanon, but also in the West Bank, a lot of UN workers have been targeted, and this is also supposed to be investigated later on. Do you feel that the UN is not supported enough, or are the institutions letting you down because of the nature of the multiple crisis?
FA:
I think that the United Nations have reached a breaking point. Our international legal system has proven so ineffective to protect the most basic instances and needs in life in Gaza. People around the world are really wondering what is international law for… I think that international law is a neutral instrument, I mean, it's pretty blind justice is to see where it's going. And the law cannot be an instrument of politics and not a tool to deliver justice. In 75 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was the promise of a different world of the world, not dominated by the rule of force, but the force of the law and the all, this has been really eroded, severely damaged. We have a country which is advancing an expansionist agenda at the expense of a native population, which is being forcibly displaced, arbitrarily arrested, with extrajudicial killings; it has been so for decades. And it is now starved and genocided. The UN fails its humanitarian operations and mission. It fails its political mission to preserve peace and security, and it fails its function to apply justice when violations of international law have occurred. Well, how do we get past this? I think that this system will be sorely missed when it will no longer be there, and there is a revival or a resurgence of extremely right wing, worrisome forces around the world. So I encourage all of us to be more active and responsible to force the policy makers to abide by international law. So to use the system as this as well as it can get, because it's not going to get reformed right now, but what we have needs to be acted upon bone, and it's not given that we will succeed, but it's not lost yet, and this is why it's worth continuing.
MC: Also, in the global South, countries like South Africa, Nicaragua, Turkey, I've tried to involve the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice. Do you have hope that these cases can move forward? And is this also a solution? Because on the ground people are dying on an hourly basis?
FA:
Look, there is such a schism between the reality on the ground and the response that is given at the international level, which is so frustrating because it seems that people don't see or don't value the life and death of the Palestinians. I mean, there are 17,000, at least 17,000 Palestinian children who have been butchered. Do you imagine, had this been Israeli children? Of course, I don't wish that. Of course not. For me, the life of an Israeli child is equal to the life of a Palestinian child. And I will tell you more, it is equal to the life of my own children. This is what humanity is for me. But at the same time, I see that the international community reacts to the suffering of these rallies in such an extreme way compared to the ordinary suffering of the Palestinians, who have endured a painful fate for decades. And for me, this is simply selective outrage, double standards and morality and eventually racism. So how to fix it? First of all, understanding what we are confronted with and dealing with this germ inside of us, which is a dormant gene of racism, and I'm talking as a European, we need to deal with this bias toward the others, toward people in the global South.
MC: It also seems that, diplomatically, one of the key issues is that Israel's main ally is the United States. Are you thinking that we all need to wait until the result of the US election, until any form of policy change can come about? France, Spain and Ireland are called to reevaluate their contract for sending arms to Israel. But again, the key country seems to be the United States…
FA:
Melissa, I don't think that a new president, considering who's running for elections, will make a dramatic change for the US foreign policy. In the era where we have signed universal laws, universal principles, saying that human rights are the foundation of our system and they're there to protect us, therefore needs to be respected. Freedom of association, freedom of expression, in particular, the US is the first betrayal of these fundamental rights, both at the domestic level and internationally. The United States is the first and foremost country which doesn't respect international law.
MC: Before we wrap up, a lot of organisations, I've called for a year now for a cease fire, which sounds like the only way to bring humanitarian aid properly. Do you have faith that this would be possible, even maybe before the end of the year?
FA:
It must be. It must be feasible because we are not talking of a ceasefire to put an end to hostilities. There is no hostilities. Israel is slaughtering civilians. People need to understand this. Again, I'm seeing images every day and I'm studying them, validating them with experts, forensic experts and others on the ground. And Israel is literally slaughtering civilians. Refugee camp after refugee camp, neighbourhoods after neighbourhoods, shelter after shelters, hospital after hospitals in order to push them out of northern Gaza. And once this will be done, it will continue with the South. I mean, the three leaders of Hamas, the political leader Haniyeh, the head of the military component, Yahya Sinwar, and Mohammed, the three wanted by the International Criminal Court have been killed. 42,000 people have been killed by bombs and snipers. What else is needed? And now the Israelis say that the war has just begun. See what Israel is doing. How can we be so blind?
MC: Well, thank you very much, Francesca Albanese.
FA:
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Listen from here:
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said of Francescas Albanese this week on Twitter (no rebranding policies here) that she is “courageously speaking truth”, and is an upstander.
She “will be remembered as a hero”, they added, “as experts on the crime of genocide, we can say this with certainty.”
Watch Francesca Albanese’s speech at the UN General Assembly: "Gaza is now a wasteland of rubble, garbage and human remains"
Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, presented her latest report to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 30 October 2024.
The Special Rapporteur is part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
Comprising the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, Special Procedures is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
The Human Rights Council is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly.
Lastly for this post on the Near East I signed this letter:
Hundreds of Authors Pledge to Boycott Israeli Cultural Institutions
“We cannot in good conscience engage with Israeli institutions without interrogating their relationship to apartheid and displacement.”
Percival Everett, Sally Rooney, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Kaveh Akbar, Michelle Alexander, Naomi Klein, Téa Obreht, Peter Carey, Jericho Brown, Natalie Diaz, Mary Gaitskill, Hari Kunzru, Rachel Kushner, Jhumpa Lahiri, Justin Torres, Raven Leilani, Susan Abulhawa, Valeria Luiselli, Jia Tolentino, Ben Lerner, Jonathan Lethem, Hisham Matar, Maaza Mengiste, China Miéville, Torrey Peters, Max Porter, Miriam Toews, Leslie Jamison, Layli Long Soldier, and Ocean Vuong are among the hundreds of prominent authors who have signed an open letter pledging not to work with “Israeli cultural institutions that are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians.”
Here it is:
Extract:
The letter represents perhaps the most forceful statement of condemnation—and largest commitment to cultural boycott—ever made by the global literary community with regard to the Israeli cultural sector:
This is a genocide, as leading expert scholars and institutions have been saying for months. Israeli officials speak plainly of their motivations to eliminate the population of Gaza, to make Palestinian statehood impossible, and to seize Palestinian land. This follows 75 years of displacement, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Culture has played an integral role in normalizing these injustices. Israeli cultural institutions, often working directly with the state, have been crucial in obfuscating, disguising and artwashing the dispossession and oppression of millions of Palestinians for decades.
We have a role to play. We cannot in good conscience engage with Israeli institutions without interrogating their relationship to apartheid and displacement. This was the position taken by countless authors against South Africa; it was their contribution to the struggle against apartheid there.
Therefore: we will not work with Israeli cultural institutions that are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians.
You can read it in its entirety here:
https://lithub.com/hundreds-of-authors-pledge-to-boycott-israeli-cultural-institutions/
Thanks for reading as usual.
Stay well, best,
melissa