Bettel's delicate mission between the suffering of the hostages and the misery of the West Bank

“Do you have your passports?” asks the driver of the bus with which the Luxembourg press delegation will arrive in about half an hour at the checkpoint near Beitunia. On the other side of the latter is the West Bank, a territory of flight for Palestinians, administered by the Palestinian Authority.

The convoy stops in front of a sort of hangar, secured by a high door on the Palestinian side. Only a few Israeli soldiers stood guard at the crossing point that midday. In fact, they look more like civilians with body armor and an assault rifle.

In a way, it is ironic, even cynical, that Israel's authority officially stops at this barbed wire fence, at this crossing point, while, at the same time, Israeli settlers can engage in to illegal dispossession of land (semi-officially, but with the massive support of the Israeli government).

The entire environment around the checkpoint breathes the atmosphere which, since the Six Day War (in June 1967), has characterized neighborly relations between Arabs and Jews in the region. The place looks desolate, the high fences and security gates give off a prison atmosphere. Armored glass watchtowers complete the impression. Dust rises as cars stop in front of the lobby.

“This is where we change cars,” said our driver, a man in his sixties. On the journey between the Knesset and Beitunia, he still managed to keep his passengers in suspense with amusing remarks. “How long is two minutes in Luxembourg?” he asks while colleagues still want to take photos quickly and are of course late. But the closer the border gets, the more conversations become rare and eventually die out completely.

The new driver who takes over at the checkpoint is called Mohammad, a young Palestinian in his twenties and father of a little girl, as revealed by the wallpaper photo on his phone.

Death sentence for Israeli hostages?

After a short journey, the convoy already reached the city of Ramallah. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Xavier Bettel (DP), already has his fourth meeting of the day there, after the Knesset. It talks about a ceasefire, the release of hostages, the two-state solution and Israel withholding financial aid from the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinians have recently shown little energy in committing to the release of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas, Bettel criticizes. More than a hundred of them have still not returned and their fate is uncertain. In Israel, their memory is evoked in many places. Are they still alive? “My personal opinion is that the death of Yahia Sinwar (the leader of Hamas, killed in mid-October, editor's note) was at the same time the death sentence for the abductees,” Rita Lifshitz told reporters earlier that day. Jerusalem, during an interview with Xavier Bettel.

Born in Sweden, she arrived in Israel in 1982 and took root on Kibbutz Nir Oz. While she herself was spared by a happy coincidence, her father-in-law Oded, then aged 83, was affected. He is a friend of the Palestinians, she says, but Hamas doesn't care. She wishes for peaceful coexistence of the two peoples, both sharing suffering. “Our hearts are broken too,” warns Lifshitz.

Ramallah is a city of more than 33,000 inhabitants. Like other West Bank towns and villages, it nestles against the rugged mountains where Palestinians took refuge or were deported after the Six-Day War. There are many new constructions, mostly rental barracks, which however do not have much in common with the numerous temporary constructions that we still see in abundance.

On the bus with the journalists, we barely talk anymore. Everyone observes the agitation in the streets, gaps regularly revealing the breathtaking landscape of Palestine. In the distance, we can see many other Palestinian settlements.

Sharp criticism of UNWRA

After only a short journey, a large gate opens into a secondary street, the convoy enters a spacious interior courtyard. This is a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA). The UNWRA provides basic education and health infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian territories and is more than a thorn in the side of the Israeli government, at least since the accusations of terrorism linked to the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.

Last Monday, the Knesset passed two laws whose consequences amount to a virtual ban on the UNWRA in Palestine. Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel protested against the entry into force of these laws, scheduled for three months, during a personal meeting with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. “Until then, it is impossible to put in place an alternative to UNWRA,” Bettel said. “If no solution is found in 90 days, we will have the next humanitarian catastrophe.”

The school yard is large. Where children play during breaks, bodyguards now look around nervously. Almost all neighboring buildings exceed the school building. Four bodyguards also made the trip from Luxembourg, always close to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and as discreet as possible.

Xavier Bettel is welcomed in the school courtyard by representatives of the UNWRA, including the German Roland Friedrich, UNWRA coordinator for the West Bank, and originally from the Koblenz region on the Rhine. “Since October 7, we have seen an increasing increase in unemployment,” explains Friedrich. This comes on top of the 30% unemployment in the West Bank. In refugee camps, this rate is even higher, between 50 and 60%.

“We are very worried about the impact of these laws,” continues Roland Friedrich. He cites the exact consequences if they were to come into force: “We would no longer obtain visas for international collaborators, we would have difficulties in financial transactions and would thus have to close institutions quite quickly. Which would, from our point of view, have a very negative influence on the stability of the West Bank and the entire region.”

The UNWRA coordinator explains that Palestinians view these laws as an attempt to create political facts. He is concerned that the situation in the West Bank could get out of hand “if the laws are actually applied in this way.” The figures show how important the UN organization is for the survival of the population. According to Friedrich, UNWRA operates 96 schools, three vocational training centers, 43 health facilities and one hospital in the West Bank alone.

Of the 800,000 refugees registered in the West Bank, half benefit from UNWRA services. Added to this are direct services in 19 refugee camps with a total of 230,000 inhabitants as well as additional social and reconstruction assistance for around 200,000 Palestinians.

For UNWRA coordinator Friedrich, all that remains is the principle of hope: “We hope that it will be possible to conduct a constructive dialogue with our Israeli partners to see how the laws can be implemented without jeopardizing endangering the stability of the region.”

The school textbook contains terropaganda

There are entirely justified criticisms, especially in the area of ​​education for younger students. The accusation of terrorism is manifested in a school textbook that Foreign Minister Bettel visibly received in his hands during the interview in the Knesset. A pink “Post It” marks a page on which Palestinian terrorist Dalal Mughrabi is depicted and apparently made a martyr in the book.

Mughrabi, then 18, was part of a group of terrorists who, on orders from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), hijacked a bus on the coastal highway near Tel Aviv on March 11, 1978. and murdered 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children. More than 70 other occupants were injured. The aim of this terrorist act was to disrupt ongoing peace talks between Israel and Egypt. Mughrabi was killed during the clash with Israeli police and special forces.

Regarding the accusations against the UNWRA, “a lot of misinformation” is circulating according to Friedrich. In any case, the UN aid agency has been sharing the personnel list with Israel for years. The UNRWA does not have its own textbooks, it uses those of the Palestinian Authority and monitors the textbooks and curricula “each year to verify that they do not violate neutrality.” The textbooks and curricula have further been scrutinized “for years” by international organizations such as the European Parliament and donor countries for controversial content.

“We have very strict guidelines for our teaching staff to teach controversial topics in a way that encourages students to think critically about these issues,” says Friedrich. The latter adds: “At the same time, it must be said that the Palestinians in the West Bank have lived under military occupation since 1967 and are experiencing a reality that influences their own abilities to learn.”

Xavier Bettel confronts the leadership of the UNWRA with these accusations. “I want to defend you, but you must help me do it,” slips the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “At this moment, I am not a diplomat. I told you that you were not perfect, but that you could improve.” Bettel would not get a response that day.

And this is how this day in Palestine ends, with the return to the Beitunia checkpoint. Meanwhile, night has fallen. The next day, when the sun rises over the hills beyond Umm Safa in the West Bank and the Western Wall in Jerusalem, nothing will have changed for anyone. And it’s a fact that people have learned to live with.

This article was originally published on the Luxemburger Wort website.

Adaptation: Julien Carette