tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/military-operations-27211/articlesmilitary operations – The Conversation2023-07-05T15:05:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090842023-07-05T15:05:37Z2023-07-05T15:05:37ZJenin has long been seen as the capital of Palestinian resistance and militancy – the latest raid will do little to shake that reputation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535787/original/file-20230705-15-3eaw2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C0%2C3211%2C2165&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Palestinian confronts Israeli military vehicles in the Jenin refugee camp on July 4, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/palestinian-confronts-israeli-military-vehicles-with-the-news-photo/1501982783?adppopup=true">Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Israeli troops <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-west-bank-jenin-militants-raids-ba4cfdd551349900aefb43158b6f2bcb">withdrew from Jenin</a> on July 4, 2023 after two days of heavy aerial bombardment and ground invasion. According to reports, 12 Palestinians were killed and over 100 wounded in what the Israeli military <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66095622">described as a “counter-terrorism operation</a>”. One Israeli soldier was also reportedly <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-soldier-killed-in-jenin-operation-shortly-before-troops-begin-to-withdraw/">killed</a>.</p>
<p>The site of the latest confrontation is not new. The <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/unrwa_west_bank-_jenin_camp_profile.pdf">Jenin refugee camp</a>, on the western edge of the town of Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank, has often experienced violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants. </p>
<p>On July 3, the Israeli government said it needed to enter Jenin to arrest militants it accuses of terrorism, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that the operation <a href="https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/israeli-soldier-killed-as-jenin-operation-ends-3r6Evu12Bx4sa4yHagWra0">would not be a “one-time action</a>.” </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://menas.arizona.edu/person/maha-nassar">scholar of Palestinian history</a>, I see this recent episode as the latest chapter in a much longer history of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">Palestinian displacement and defiance</a> of Israeli occupation. Understanding this history helps explain why the Jenin camp in particular has become a center of Palestinian militant resistance.</p>
<h2>Camp conditions</h2>
<p>Jenin, an agricultural town that dates back to <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34673729/Jenin_at_the_Edge_of_Marj_Ibn_Amer">ancient times</a>, has long been a center of Palestinian resistance. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Arab fighters <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42944387">successfully pushed back</a> Israeli attempts to capture the town. </p>
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<p>At the end of that war, the town became a refuge for some of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">who fled or were expelled</a> from lands that became part of Israel. Jenin, along with the hilly interior of Palestine known as the West Bank, was annexed by Jordan.</p>
<p>The UN Relief and Works Agency <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/west-bank/jenin-camp">established the Jenin camp</a> in 1953, just west of the city. Since then, the agency has <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/west-bank/jenin-camp">provided basic services</a> to the camp’s residents, including food, housing and education. </p>
<p>Camp conditions have always been difficult. In the early years of the camp, refugees had to stand in long lines to receive food rations, and for decades their cramped homes <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/jenin-refugee-camp-battle-never-ended">lacked electricity or running water</a>.</p>
<p>The Jenin camp soon became the poorest and most densely populated of the West Bank’s 19 refugee camps. And given its location near the “<a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-1967-border-the-quot-green-line-quot">Green Line</a>” – the armistice line that serves as Israel’s de facto border – camp residents who were expelled from northern Palestine could actually see the homes and villages from which they were expelled. But they were prevented from returning to them.</p>
<h2>The rise of militancy</h2>
<p>Since 1967, Jenin, along with the rest of the West Bank, has been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52756427">occupied by the Israeli military</a>.</p>
<p>The Israeli occupation of Jenin compounded the difficulties of these refugees. As stateless Palestinians, they couldn’t return home. But under Israeli occupation, they couldn’t live freely in Jenin, either. Human rights groups have long documented what has been described as “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution">systematic oppression</a>,” <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/">which includes</a> discriminatory land seizures, forced evictions and travel restrictions.</p>
<p>Seeing no other path forward, many of the camp’s young refugees turned to <a href="https://www.newarab.com/opinion/case-armed-resistance">armed resistance</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, groups such as the <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/jenin-refugee-camp-battle-never-ended">Black Panthers</a>, which was affiliated with the Palestinian nationalist Fatah organization, launched attacks on Israeli targets in an effort to end the occupation and liberate what they saw as their lands. Throughout the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080066/israel-palestine-intifadas-first-second">first intifada</a> – a Palestinian uprising lasting from 1987 to 1993 – the <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/jenin-refugee-camp-battle-never-ended">Israeli army raided</a> the Jenin camp many times, seeking to arrest members of militant groups. In the process, Israeli forces also sometimes <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/mde150332004en.pdf">demolished family members’ homes and arrested relatives</a>. Such acts of apparent collective punishment reinforced the idea for many Palestinians that the Israeli occupation could only be ended by force.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of men in headscarves stand in front of flags and banners. One holds a pistol up in the air." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535792/original/file-20230705-28-e7lp18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535792/original/file-20230705-28-e7lp18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535792/original/file-20230705-28-e7lp18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535792/original/file-20230705-28-e7lp18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535792/original/file-20230705-28-e7lp18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535792/original/file-20230705-28-e7lp18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535792/original/file-20230705-28-e7lp18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Members of the militant group Fatah in Jenin in 1991.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstration-of-palestinian-fatah-in-jenin-israel-on-news-photo/110149530?adppopup=true">Esaias Baitel/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1993-2000/oslo">Oslo peace process</a> of the 1990s – which consisted of a series of meetings between Israeli government and Palestinian representatives – led some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/09/09/intifada-warrior-ready-for-peace/63fa9bcb-1bac-4c20-9fbb-d0bddfc8f94d/">former militants to hope</a> that the occupation could be ended through negotiations instead. But Jenin’s camp residents remained marginalized in the West Bank and sealed off from Israel, seeing <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/lost-potential-jenin/31511">little improvement</a> in their lives, even after the transfer of administrative powers from Israel to the Palestinian Authority in 1995.</p>
<p>Independent projects like the <a href="https://thefreedomtheatre.org">The Freedom Theater</a> provided some relief to the camp’s refugee children, but it was not enough to overcome the grinding poverty and violence they faced. By the time the second intifada broke out in 2000, many of the camp’s teenagers <a href="https://participant.com/film/arnas-children">joined militant groups</a>. That included Freedom Theater co-founder Zakaria Zubeidi, <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/palestine-zakaria-zubeidi-revolutionary-artistic-leader">who joined</a> the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Like the youth of the 1980s, they, too, concluded that only armed resistance would bring an end to the occupation.</p>
<h2>A cycle of violence?</h2>
<p>In April 2002 the Israeli army invaded the Jenin camp, hoping to put an end to such armed groups. There were fierce clashes between Israeli soldiers and young Palestinian men in the camp, solidifying Jenin’s reputation among Palestinians as “<a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/04/13/jenin-escalation-israeli-palestinian-conflict-attacks">the capital of the resistance</a>.”</p>
<p>The lack of progress on peace talks since then, Israel’s <a href="https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/200205_land_grab">illegal settlement building</a> on occupied land, and the inclusion of hard-line Israeli politicians in the government have exacerbated resentment in the camp. Polls show Palestinians increasingly <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/amid-israeli-violence-palestinians-back-armed-resistance">support armed resistance</a>.</p>
<p>Seemingly alarmed by the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/why-is-israel-attacking-jenin-west-bank-operation-explained-2023-07-04/">increase in militancy and the stockpiling of weapons</a> in the camp, Israel dramatically stepped up its raids into the camp in 2022. It was during such a raid that Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-media-reports-of-clashes-mislead-americans-about-israeli-palestinian-violence-183077">was killed</a> by an Israeli soldier.</p>
<p>The latest raid, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/02/middleeast/israel-jenin-camp-idf-raid-west-bank-intl-hnk/index.html">many journalists have noted</a>, may be the biggest operation in the camp in 20 years. But it was built on decades of resistance and militant defiance that will, I believe, only increase with the latest deaths and destruction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maha Nassar served as a 2022 Palestinian non-resident fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace.</span></em></p>Israeli troops have withdrawn after two days of fighting in a camp in the occupied West Bank. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that it would not be a ‘one-time action.’Maha Nassar, Associate Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/799542017-09-22T11:49:23Z2017-09-22T11:49:23ZWomen and war: after Afghanistan, there’s a chance to deploy gender-led approaches to conflict<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186600/original/file-20170919-22604-1wqj9qh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Helmandi policewoman is trained to load and fire a weapon in 2009.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hannah West</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a member of the Royal Navy, I never really thought that being a woman affected my work. Whether I was making safety decisions about flying helicopters or participating in operational planning, my contribution was listened to and respected. </p>
<p>I wasn’t sidelined or disadvantaged for being a woman in a military largely populated by men. I was just one of the team.</p>
<p>I joined Britannia Royal Naval College straight from school so I grew up in the institution. As a young recruit, I knuckled down to basic training and got on with it, accepting the history and tradition we were presented with. It’s true that we were surrounded by men – as instructors, commanders and famous historical figures – but this seemed logical. I had joined a male dominated British organisation, so what did I expect?</p>
<p>I do recall a sense of wanting to hold my own with my male peers to demonstrate myself as capable. But otherwise, with the exception of differentiated fitness tests, it seemed rare that my gender had any serious relevance. </p>
<p>When it did come up, whether it was being jeered at by young sailors on a night out or having to wear uniform skirts (rather than trousers), it was something I just accepted as part of the lifestyle. The military runs on a bit of banter, and it really didn’t seem that bad. Anticipating the excitement of engineering in demanding environments, I just wanted to put my training into practice and get on with the job.</p>
<h2>Looking back</h2>
<p>Now that I am no longer in the navy, I have had the chance to think about my ten years of service from the outside. It has been a slow transition, but I have begun to notice the impact of a male-dominated hierarchy on military culture and the way it thinks about war. </p>
<p>When I think of subtle examples of this culture, I remember how at sea, we used to hang our drying underwear in lockable cages to prevent it from being stolen by male sailors. At the time, I just accepted this as what we did. Now I question why on earth it was our responsibility to keep our underwear away from the male sailors and not theirs to behave appropriately. </p>
<p>This might seem an insignificant example – but I think there is a connection here between the characteristics of military culture and the way people unquestioningly think about war as a male domain. </p>
<p>Six months working on civil-military operations in Afghanistan sparked my own interest and research into women as counterinsurgents. Counterinsurgency is a battle against guerilla warfare – and a fascinating case for considering gendered ideas of warfare. </p>
<p>It is often described as a battle for the hearts and minds of a population. And although there have been examples of coercive and abusive campaigns, counterinsurgency is a method which can have a strong, non-violent influence on a military operation. </p>
<p>To win over a population, you have to talk to them, not shoot them (albeit supported by targeted strikes). Conversation topics range from attempts to understand community dynamics, working to implement a small scale community improvement project or planning the delivery of programmes from the Afghan ministries of health, education or agriculture. </p>
<p>Through talking to local people, we aimed to win support both for the international military presence and the Afghan government. My own involvement was in helping to train Helmandi policewomen, working with female local officials or monitoring development initiatives specifically designed for women.</p>
<p>Counterinsurgency itself appears to have two sides battling against each other. It is either a bloody and aggressive battle against the enemy or a sensitive engagement with the population. Some have <a href="http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/a-feminist-approach-to-british-counterinsurgency(9268808e-fe85-42d9-abc9-8a655249a44d)/export.html">characterised the divide</a> as a masculinised versus feminised counterinsurgency. </p>
<h2>A woman’s place</h2>
<p>So where do women fit into this gendered idea of counterinsurgency? During the influential <a href="https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/malayan-emergency">British campaign in Malaya</a>, an extensive self-help community outreach programme was coordinated by Lady Templer, the General’s wife, supported by the British Red Cross and Women’s Institute. </p>
<p>In Northern Ireland, female soldiers were <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dared-Covert-Operations-Northern-Ireland/dp/0850526868">employed on special duties</a> as covert surveillance operators able to easily <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/ONE-UP-WOMAN-ACTION-1997-08-01/dp/B01K3HCX36">blend in with the community</a>. </p>
<p>The British Army introduced women-led engagement teams to Afghanistan in 2010, using female soldiers to interact with the local population. It is unsurprising that these teams were <a href="http://www.nato.int/issues/women_nato/2014/5096-seeking-out-their-afghan-sisters.pdf">largely discredited</a> given that they had an ill-defined mission, against which it was hard to judge success or even objective. </p>
<p>There is a danger that gender-focused policies in war zones become tokenistic and rapidly forgotten. They risk failing simply because they run counter to the dominant masculinised campaigns, and the way we currently think about conflict.</p>
<p>But as the British military thinks about counterinsurgency in the post-Afghanistan era, there is surely an opportunity to embrace more enlightened ways of integrating gendered policies for contemporary operations – and to challenge how we think about what we want our soldiers to do, and how we train them to do it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah West receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p>Successful counterinsurgency depends on winning the hearts and minds of men and women.Hannah West, Post Graduate Researcher in Security, Conflict and Justice, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/803342017-08-30T14:27:38Z2017-08-30T14:27:38ZCutting the UN’s peacekeeping budget will cost the world dear<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183760/original/file-20170829-10438-1rmhqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cutting back on peace keeping.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-ny-usa-september-24-488226595?src=SZNN9enf6F4yyPTFAOutmA-1-0">Shutterstock/Osugi</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United Nations General Assembly voted this summer to cut $US600m from its peacekeeping budget. This is the money which pays for more than 100,000 troops, police and civilians in 16 missions across the world.</p>
<p>The reduction in funds was <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/un-peacekeeping-budget-cut-by-600-million-dollars/3923664.html">pushed for by the Trump administration</a>, and immediately labelled a success by the White House. But there are fears that the spending cuts hailed by US Ambassador Nikki Haley could come at a huge price.</p>
<p>Haley was <a href="http://time.com/4838459/nikki-haley-tweet-un-peacekeepers-reaction/">widely criticised</a> after she boasted of over half a billion dollars being slashed from the peacekeeping budget. “We’re only getting started,” she added enthusiastically.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"880232833322713088"}"></div></p>
<p>Peacekeeping consists of more than a military presence. As well maintaining ceasefires and agreements, it is intimately involved in the political aspects of the peace process. Work by civilians can drive political engagement and create environments conducive to lasting peace.</p>
<p>Even a cursory read of peace operation mandates shows the serious implications of the existing gap between available resources and the work needed. Neither the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/sc/">United Nations Security Council</a> nor the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/ga/fifth/about.shtml">Fifth Committee</a> (responsible for passing UN budgets) seem confident that current mandates are achievable. </p>
<p>While the idea of a peacekeeping “go-between” might appear frivolous to Ambassador Haley, this kind of delicate communication is vital. Peace operations facilitate the early steps towards peace. </p>
<p>Planning for even more cuts is an extraordinarily shortsighted approach if the US is serious in its commitment to international security. It is particularly troubling at a time when peace operations across the world are only growing in complexity.</p>
<p>In both conflict and post-conflict environments, security institutions are often weak, corrupt, and mistrusted by those they are charged with securing. Those no longer employed as combatants face a difficult time reintegrating into society. </p>
<p>In many cases, peace operations conduct <a href="http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/issues/ddr.shtml">disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration</a> programs that prevent former fighters from rejoining armed groups. Even during ongoing conflict, UN operations can boast success in this area. </p>
<p><a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/408/89/PDF/N1640889.pdf?OpenElement">In 2015</a>, the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur, Sudan, worked on reconciliation initiatives and local dialogue projects following attacks on internally displaced citizens. But budget shortcomings resulted in their temporary suspension.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://monusco.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/adf_decide_now.pdf">UN Stabilisation Mission in the Congo</a> has had modest but positive results. The modesty is largely due to the <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report/99741/briefing-ddr-eastern-drc-try-try-again">strained resources</a> invested in the project. But with more than 50 armed groups operating in the country, the bill is likely to rise as the conflict persists.</p>
<p>As well as working to improve the environment for a peace process to take place, <a href="http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/issues/civil/">Civil Affairs Officers</a> conduct <a href="http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/documents/civilhandbook/Chapter12.pdf">Quick Impact Projects</a> to foster good relations and confidence in the operation among local populations. </p>
<h2>Multi-tasking for peace</h2>
<p>These projects take many forms. <a href="https://minusma.unmissions.org/en/quick-impact-projects-qips">The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)</a> included improving rubbish disposal in the cities of Kidal and Timbuktu. There was also work to increase access to electricity for residents and medical facilities. </p>
<p>Civil Affairs Officers installed water pumps in schools and city centres. To support the preservation of Mali’s cultural heritage, MINUSMA restored three libraries of manuscripts of Timbuktu. In the city of Gao, there was increased support for people affected by HIV, additional security for the main prison, and the rehabilitation of the regional orchestra.</p>
<p>Conflict recurrence is commonplace, particularly where conflicts have ended in a <a href="http://bev.berkeley.edu/Ethnic%20Religious%20Conflict/Problem%20with%20negotiated%20settlements.pdf">negotiated settlement</a>. Often this is the result of unresolved grievances affecting marginalised groups. </p>
<p>Peace operations encourage dialogue at the local level and help to establish community dynamics in which local economies can prosper and prevent disaffected groups from returning to violence. </p>
<p>Other artefacts of war persist after conflicts are settled. Landmines haunt regions until they have been detonated – either professionally or accidentally, with horrific consequences. </p>
<p>Peace operations are often involved in clearing them and educating effected populations on how to keep safe in their midst. The <a href="http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/71/624">UN Interim Force in Abyei</a> provided mine risk education to 28,000 residents and cleared landmines from important routes in Sudan.</p>
<p>Modern peacekeeping has many dimensions. It involves a myriad of different, specialised tasks. Slashing its funding will just put carefully crafted initiatives at risk. And people will die because of it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Helms does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Slashing funding will put carefully crafted initiatives at risk – and people will die because of it.Emily Helms, PhD candidate in Government, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/588052016-05-06T00:24:44Z2016-05-06T00:24:44ZFinding a dignified resolution for West Papua<p>On Monday, Indonesian police arrested <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/indonesian-police-arrest-1-500-in-papua-1462262785">nearly 1,500 protestors</a> in Jayapura, Papua. They were rallying in support of a coalition of groups representing West Papuans’ aspirations for independence.</p>
<p>The police stopped the protesters, who were heading to the local parliament, forced them to board military trucks, and took them to the Mobile Brigade compound.</p>
<p>The protesters were demonstrating their support for the <a href="http://pacificpolicy.org/2014/12/west-papuans-unite-to-form-new-umbrella-group/">United Liberation Movement of West Papua’s</a> (ULMWP) bid to gain full membership in the grouping of Melanesian countries, the <a href="http://www.msgsec.info/index.php/members/brief-about-msg">Melanesian Spearhead Group</a> (MSG). </p>
<p>The ULMWP holds observer status in the group, which consists of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. Last year, Indonesia was granted associate membership. </p>
<p>To prevent further violent mistreatment of protesters, together with several Papuan councillors and church leaders, that day I went to the Mobile Brigade’s compound to negotiate with the security forces to release the detainees peacefully. </p>
<p>Monday’s arrests were the largest in the West Papua independence movement’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/29/west-papua-independence-history">history</a>. </p>
<p>Why did thousands of people in Papua take to the streets to support ULMWP? </p>
<p>Public discontent in West Papua is a result of a complicated past. It is a product of historical manipulation and repression of the right to self-determination of West Papuans. </p>
<p>Over the past five decades, the Papuan people have not moved from their position in relation to Indonesia. They have struggled to make progress in their predicament as the oppressed people. They are marginalised, suffering from various forms of violence, and being pushed from their own land.</p>
<p>Solving the problem of West Papua in a dignified manner should involve not only Indonesian authorities but also Papuans and the international community. In that sense, ULMWP and the popular support for ULMWP within West Papua is part of the solution and should not be repressed. </p>
<h2>The silenced truth</h2>
<p>Ever since West Papua was <a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/United-Nations-Indonesian-Takeover-1962-1969-ebook/dp/B000OI1282">transferred into the hands of Indonesia</a> in the early 1960s from being a remote outpost of the Dutch, it has become the land of “mourning and grief”. </p>
<p>Gross human rights violations have been taking place in West Papua since Indonesia, backed by the United Nations, annexed the western half of the island of New Guinea in 1963. In 1969, Indonesia gained complete rule of West Papua via a <a href="http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB128/">sham referendum</a>. </p>
<p>West Papuans have looked to their Melanesian brothers and sisters to assist them in seeking resolution of past abuses by the Indonesian government and to build a new Papua. But they are still confronted with many challenges. </p>
<p>In September, countries in the <a href="http://www.forumsec.org/">Pacific Island Forum</a>, a grouping of 14 countries that includes Australia and New Zealand, agreed to send a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations in West Papua. The Indonesian government refused to accept such a team. </p>
<p>Indonesia’s co-ordinating minister for politics, law and human rights, Luhut Pandjaitan, instead held two focus group discussions at a luxury hotel in Jayapura for the so-called “settlement of human rights issues”. </p>
<p>But West Papua is a nation that grew up with and is shaped by experiences of living under Indonesia’s military operations. These cannot be solved simply with focus group discussions. </p>
<p>Sadar Operation (1962, 1965-67), Wisnumurti Operation (1963), Wibawa Operation (1969), Pamungkas Operation (1970-1971), military operations in Jayawijaya (1977-80), Sapu Bersih Operation (1979-82), and Tumpas Operation (1983-84) are only a few of a series of violent acts of oppression that have confronted ordinary Papuans. </p>
<p>Today, Indonesia’s militaristic approach in West Papua remains intact. </p>
<p>This approach has resulted in a series of acts of intimidation and terror committed by security forces. They are involved in land expropriation and natural resources extraction under the banner of development and investment, in the name of Papuan welfare. </p>
<h2>Diplomatic pressure from Indonesia</h2>
<p>Following the increasing concern and solidarity from the Pacific region and support from the MSG for a resolution of West Papua’s problem, the Indonesian government is aggressively lobbying countries and political leaders in the Pacific. </p>
<p>Upon his return from a visit to PNG and Fiji last month, Pandjaitan boasted that Indonesia had the support of the two countries and could handle the MSG. At the same time, he argued that foreigners should not interfere in matters of human rights in West Papua.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, environmental destruction and rampant militarism walk hand in hand in West Papua. Papuans are continuously stigmatised as backward, ignorant and poor. This has become a pretext for what Indonesian authorities call “the acceleration and expansion of development”. </p>
<p>Pressed against waves of Indonesian migration, Papuans are not given any chance at all to develop themselves. They are a minority in their own land, not only in terms of number but also in terms of power. Every protest and negotiation effort by indigenous people is met with brutal responses and security operations. </p>
<h2>Dignified resolution</h2>
<p>In talking about West Papua, the Indonesian government often uses language that obscures past abuses. Papua’s relationship with the outside world is heavily controlled. The Indonesian government <a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesias-opening-of-papua-still-needs-to-bridge-the-gap-between-reality-and-rhetoric-50399">makes it difficult</a> for international journalists to cover Papua and bans international researchers from studying the region.</p>
<p>Indonesia’s solutions for West Papua are based on shallow reflections and fear of the West Papuan people. </p>
<p>A genuine resolution for the West Papuan problem will only come from Indonesia’s willingness to listen to and stop oppression of West Papuans. </p>
<p>Indonesia should welcome the support from international communities, such as the MSG and the United Nations, as mediators in finding a resolution on West Papua.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benny Giay is the head of Synod of Kingmi Church in West Papua.</span></em></p>Solving the problem of West Papua in a dignified manner should involve not only Indonesian authorities but also Papuans and the international community.Benny Giay, Lecturer, Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Walter Post JayapuraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.