UN-Truth

From this week’s edition of Bitterlemons, a weekly forum of two Israelis and two Palestinians, organized by the hard-working and talented Ghassan Khatib, is this right-on-the-mark article, “More fraud than friend“, by Akram Baker:

“My sister’s hamster recently dropped another round of babies. Just when she thought life had returned to normal, a new batch of tiny creatures was born, sending the wheel fresh on its never-ending rotation. Looking at the litter, I couldn’t help but think of the plethora of western-funded Palestinian (and Israeli) non-governmental organizations bent on supporting the non-existing peace process. Just like the hamsters, they run around and around, creating an illusion of forward movement but willfully trading substance for process.

Sure, it may be nice when it comes to assuaging the conscience of the West, but in the end the revolving hamster wheel produces about as much good as the ‘peace industry’…

“While there have always been (at least since the 1980’s) a few well-meaning groups trying to promote dialogue and reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis, the explosion of such organizations really came after the signing of the ill-fated Oslo Accords and the creation of the Palestinian Authority.

Throughout the 1990s, the easiest way of getting cash between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River was to get a Palestinian and an Israeli together (preferably someone with a degree in ‘peace studies’, whatever that is) to establish a center/ institute/ organization/ group/ or committee for Palestinian/ Israeli/ religious/ Middle East or Arab dialogue/ democracy/ non-violence/ cooperation/ research/ peace/ or reconciliation and the money would roll in.

It mattered not what these make-work programs produced for they often produced nothing but stale reports written for even staler donors sitting behind stale desks in western capitals (or in Tokyo). What mattered was that the governments of Europe and North America could croon on and on to their constituents about promoting peace in this god-forsaken region.

It should be said that a few honorable people on all sides of the divide really have tried to make a difference and some may even have succeeded in doing so. However, in total, the peace NGOs have been more fraud than friend.

The reasons for this are plenty, ranging from warped donor policies to bad organizational administration. However, the main cause is that there is absolutely no basis for cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians as long as the Israeli military occupation continues. As a young man, I led quite a few groups of Palestinian youth to summer camps in Europe where we met with Israeli youth from left-leaning groups in a neutral setting. Ostensibly the aim was to show the other how much in common each ’side’ had. It is true that in the forests of Sweden and the mountains of Austria, young Mohammad and young Shlomo found they had a common interest in girls and music. However, our generous European hosts could not fathom why we didn’t remain friends once we all returned.

They couldn’t accept that the sad fact of the matter was that in Norkopping, Sweden, all of us were equally protected under the law, but back here, Shlomo had just begun his army service and was on his way to enforce a curfew in Mohammad’s village. In the current situation with Israeli travel restrictions, it is even possible that Shlomo, nice as he may be, could conceivably be manning a checkpoint preventing Mohammad from visiting him.

Another reason for being highly suspicious is the way in which money is allocated. It is easy to get funding if you have personal connections with the West, write your proposals in excellent English with a focus on whatever is the flavor of the month, and keep your mouth shut. On paper it all looks good; in reality, as long as you keep your donors happy with a stream of endless and useless progress reports, the funds will keep coming regardless of the impact.

Donors speak of sustainability yet at the same time, most refuse to fund the building of sustainable institutions, preferring the ubiquitous project, thereby keeping people on a short leash. Another detrimental side effect of the NGO sector is the skewing of the Palestinian skilled labor market. By providing higher salaries, these organizations suck up a good proportion of young graduates, especially those who speak English fluently. With the economic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory so dire, local organizations have little chance of hiring young talent where they are needed. An engineering graduate would rather work for a non-violence and democracy organization than a local engineering firm because he can make double the cash.

This is so even taking into consideration the often shady manner in which many of these organizations handle their finances. A common practice is for an organization to send salary slips to a donor stating that Mr. X receives $2,000 a month where in reality he receives $1,200. Mr. X is given a choice of signing a paper saying he gets the $2000 or packing his bags. Guess what most people do? Or the director will bill Mr. X out at $2,000 a month for the same project to two or three different donors, pocketing the rest creating a ruthless form of Omerta. Some of the money may go back into the organization, but most is, in reality, unaccounted for.

In the West, most people join NGOs out of a sense of altruism; in Palestine, most join because they want to become part of the local ‘elite’, move to Ramallah, and get a paid trip or two to Europe a year. Instead of supporting fundamental institution-building in Palestine, the money goes to funding ‘projects’ that as an effect drain our cities of talent and resources.

It has been said that the West bought out Fateh by creating and funding the PA. Equally it bought out the secular, leftist organizations by creating a parallel PA, the NGO world. It is obvious who has been left out: the Islamic-oriented groups. We can all see where that has led. This goes to show that foreign largesse is based on cool, calculating politics and not on real need or equality.

This fraudulent and vicious circle of inter-dependence (because all bureaucracies need to spend their allocations), where the focus is on keeping people quiet instead of creating real value, where NGOs are busy enforcing the status quo instead of challenging it as watchdogs, is bound to collapse.

Peace should never be an industry”…

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Filed under: Donors, Palestine & Palestinians