ALLMEP, as an umbrella organization of 180+ Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups, reiterates its call for an immediate ceasefire, urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the release of the hostages. As hundreds of civil society leaders stated in our Civil Society Call to Action in Paris this June – delivered directly to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot – the first step to a changed reality is clear: “End the war – which means reviving the ceasefire and ensuring a permanent end to the violence, including the release of all hostages and unimpeded humanitarian access.”
Today, people in Gaza are starving. The world must act – not only with statements of concern, but with bold, coordinated action. When we convened leaders from across Israeli and Palestinian civil society recently in Paris, they developed key recommendations for what must be done to address this horrific reality. They urged that the international community and all parties must ensure the immediate surge and effective delivery of aid to the people of Gaza. To do so, civil society recommends that governments must “fund the creation of a shared, transparent, and publicly accessible database for tracking humanitarian needs and aid distribution, managed jointly by the UN and vetted Palestinian data collectors.”
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza underscores that food security is a critical dimension to the larger sense and reality of security that Palestinians and Israelis demand and deserve. Indeed, the civil society recommendations in Paris emphasized that addressing acute needs, stabilizing the situation, and taking the first concrete steps towards a secure, shared future will require a new framing. They urge policymakers to “formally adopt a ‘Human Security’ doctrine in all foreign policy related to the conflict, define security to include personal, economic, food, and environmental security for everyone.”
Achieving that security also requires activating local infrastructure. Israeli and Palestinian leaders alike recommend that the international community should “provide direct funding to strengthen the institutional capacity of local Palestinian NGOs and community-based organizations, enabling them to serve as primary partners in a more efficient and culturally appropriate humanitarian response that builds infrastructure and pathways toward long-term self-sufficiency beyond the involvement of international actors.” This is part of a much-larger and longer-term effort that will require ongoing support, including “large-scale, long-term financial investment from governments around the world to support this [bottom-up] work.”
In a time of deep despair and suffering, addressing critical human needs for food and personal security are paramount and interconnected with peacebuilding. If supporting the peacebuilders will build the path to peace, the only way to walk that path is by ensuring that we establish and sustain the conditions where people feel and are secure in every respect. In this way, immediately addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, ending the war, and bringing home the hostages are not only moral obligations; they are also the first and necessary steps toward just and lasting peace and security for everyone in the region.
Collected Statements from Member and Partner Organizations
Churches for Middle East Peace
NOTE: ALLMEP has opened a working group for members and partners engaged in Gaza-related projects. For more information, contact Doubi@allmep.org
