A report presented to the UN Human Rights Council last month noted that Israel destroyed 92 per cent of Gaza’s housing units and displaced over 90 per cent of Palestinians, while 86 percent of the territory was under orders for displacement or incorporated into military zones. Based on the evidence and statistics, the reported stated that “these violations of the right to adequate housing may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and may be considered as part of the crime of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

The report was compiled by Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, who also proposed domicide, which is the destruction of civilian infrastructure, to be considered as an international crime on its own.

Following the report, UN Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts issued a statement in which they criticised the Board of Peace for promoting a neocolonial agenda: “Leaders must stop speculating about Gaza as a real estate paradise and see it for what it is – the war ravaged homeland of its residents who have the right to rebuild their lives after the enormous suffering and deprivations they have endured.”

The comments also reflect a recent document titled  Guided Principles on Reconstruction which stipulates a permanent or prolonged ceasefire and the end of military occupation as prerequisites for the rest of the steps to follow, including humanitarian aid, UN mechanisms for assistance, reconstruction and self-determination. 

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However, while the UN experts are calling out the Board of Peace for neocolonialism, the UN itself provided the framework from which the Board of Peace’s agenda emerges. An end to Israel’s military occupation does not end Israeli colonialism. It does not call for decolonisation, which means that much of which supports Israel’s colonial enterprise will remain intact. No dismantling of settlements, no land restitution for Palestinians, no right of return, while implementing the existing dependency on the international community still takes active agency away from the Palestinian people.

The Board of Peace obliterates Palestinians through real estate development. The UN obliterates Palestinians by managing their visibility. 

The Board of Peace obliterates Palestinians through real estate development. The UN obliterates Palestinians by managing their visibility. 

The document on reconstruction also uses vague language. Principle 23, for example, stipulates the guarantees of non-repetition: “Reconstruction must incorporate structural reforms and political and security conditions necessary to prevent recurrence of large-scale destruction, displacement or rights violations.” While the document is not exclusive to Gaza, it also does not include references to colonialism anywhere in the text; only “conflict-affected countries and territories”. What affects these countries, and what is the system that protects international law violations before it protects human rights? The UN is deeply complicit, and it cannot be held as a beacon to the Board of Peace simply because it holds international consensus. 

For decades, the UN allowed Palestine’s colonisation. It actually enshrined it in the 1947 Partition Plan. The Board of Peace, if it maintains its exploitative structure and existence, is a derivative of what the UN unleashed when it approved territorial dispossession for Zionism. Without looking at colonial history, violence and complicity, no UN guidelines will protect Palestinians rights, territory and self-determination. 

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