Wednesday, January 14, 2009 The hardworking unepmloyed of Ashkelon http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,600758,00.html
Europe is doing - and lets the peacekeeping force EUBAM frontier between Gaza and Egypt monitor. Only the transition in Rafah permanently locked. So try to intervene, at least to pretend as if they do something. Typically the Middle East politics. Ashkelon / Rafah - From such a job can correct any unemployed can only dream. He lives in a hotel on the beach, stands at eight clock on, breakfast in peace in the hotel's restaurant and then goes into an office, also in the hotel was set up to deal with the other unemployed people who live in the same hotel, the daily routines discuss. It is important to assess the situation and to develop action plans. Against 13 clock he goes to eat the lunch takes an hour or two, then back into his office to work from morning to continue. Prior to his 17-18 clock his service ended, there is a coffee break, when most private things are discussed. When there are holidays? When the family comes to visit? Where can I get DVDs? So goes one day after the other. Even the evenings alike. In the city is nothing going on, so the unemployed will remain in the hotel, reading, watching television and playing "Man, you are not annoyed" or "Reversi" with the other unemployed. The only change is the bomb alarms. Then cut off the unemployed Un its activity and rushes into a shelter in the basement of the hotel. "That happened five to ten times a day," says Maria Tellaria Chavari, the press spokeswoman for the unemployed. The unemployed will be well paid from a pot of the EU. They are employees of EUBAM (European Union Border Assistant Mission), a peacekeeping force, which was established in late 2005, around the border between Egypt and Gaza in the transition from Rafah to supervise. After the withdrawal of Israelis from Gaza in the summer of 2005, Israel and the Palestinian Authority negotiated an agreement ( "Agreement on Movement and Access"), among other things, provided that a "neutral third party" the observance of the "Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing "should monitor. "The first time everything went fine," recalls Pekka Korhola, border guards from Finland. Born in 1949 in South Karelia, he has the Finnish Military Academy and attended many years at the Finnish-Russian border served. Since November 2005, he is the Chief of Operations "of the EUBAM mission. Rafah was open seven days a week, 80-EUBAM people worked in two shifts every day on average passed the 1300 frontier transition from Gaza to Egypt and vice versa, for the 100,000 "Passenger", there was a party and gifts. Hamas celebrated in Heldenpose before crossing Then, at the end of June 2006, the Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit from Hamas kidnapped Israeli territory and abducted to Gaza. For the EUBAM meant the end of the routine. At the insistence of the Israelis had the small border traffic will be heavily restricted, the transition from Rafah was closed more often than free passage. "We had very strong discussions with all parties," recalls Pekka Korhola, "but it has not exploited." In June 2007, with a Hamas coup seized power in Gaza, on 10 June was the Rafah transitional closed. After Hamas was involved in the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is not involved and neither the Israelis nor the PA had an interest in Hamas control of the border to leave. Egypt certainly not. Hamas fighters celebrated their victory by logging into Heldenpose with full equipment in the border terminal photograph them. Meanwhile, the sat-EUBAM inspectors already in the Dan Hotel in Ashkelon, although originally planned was that it should operate from Gaza. "But that would be too dangerous, especially since the EU office in Gaza in early 2005 by Palestinian militants gestürmt and was devastated." With Hamas in power changed the mandate of the EUBAM. The force was gradually from 80 to now 18 bodies shrink in the standby mode, press and hold the position and pretend as if they were still needed, or will soon be needed again. "We keep contact with the competent authorities to monitor the events and plan for all possible situations," says Patrick Delval, Deputy Head of Mission, which recently in Belgium at the national police service did. In addition, daily reports to Brussels on the situation on the ground. From time to time visitors also come from Brussels to find out about the situation on the ground information. Again, these visits have to be prepared and with the "competent bodies" of Israelis and Palestinians are coordinated. Of all the peacekeepers who operate in the Middle East? UNTSO, UNDOF, UNIFIL, MFO, TIPH? EUBAM is the smallest. 18 police officers from a dozen European countries now sitting in an abandoned hotel guests in Ashkelon and go after beschäftigungstherapeutischen exercises. It is as though a few cooks every day put together a menu, for which there is neither the ingredients nor consumers, not even a kitchen there. What at first glance like the victory of the theory of practice, the Middle Eastern reality in its purest form: it does so as if you would do something - and is so busy that there is no doubt about the activity can emerge. Despite the fact that it is in the Israel-Palestine conflict has never been a return to status quo ante has been made, are Pekka Korhola, Patrick Delval, Maria Telleria Chavarri and her other colleagues EUBAM hope: "Once the smoke has settled on Gaza We can work at any time again. " ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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