New International Blueprint to Create Jobs, Infrastructure
Four months ago, United States Secretary of State John Kerry stood on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea and announced an ambitious $4 billion plan to jumpstart the Palestinian economy in support of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Now, the office of the Quartet Representative –former British Prime Minister Tony Blair –has released details of what that plan will look like.
Unlike past attempts to support the Palestinian economy, this one will be driven by the private sector. It will focus on eight areas in both the West Bank, which is run by the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamist Hamas organization.
For example, the plan is to build 10,000 to 16,000 housing units every year in Gaza as part of an overall plan to build up to 40,000 housing units each year. The houses would be priced at $35,000 – $50,000.
However, it will only work if Israel cooperates.
“This development requires the further lifting of [Israeli] restrictions on importing building materials, ensuring access to land [potentially through use of government lands] and securing financing for developers and potential homeowners,” the quartet writes in a 21-page report called The Economic Initiative for Palestine.
In addition, the quartet will not deal directly with the Islamist Hamas movement, which the US and Israel considers to be a terrorist organization.
“We have an advisor in Gaza and we do a lot of work with the Palestinian Authority,” a spokesperson for the Quartet told The Media Line.
It is also dependent on Israeli agreement. Last week, for the first time since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel allowed 70 truckloads of construction materials into the territory. The cement, gravel and iron are intended for the private sector. Until now, Israel had not allowed what it called “dual-use” materials, meaning anything that Hamas could use to make weapons as well as building houses.
Israeli officials say they want to support the international moves toward a stronger economy.
“We’ve already done a lot of things to ease restrictions,” Paul Hirschson told The Media Line. “Economic development among the Palestinians is an important concept for us.”
However, in the past Israel has responded to Palestinian political decisions it disagrees with, such as last year’s appeal to the United Nations to recognize it as a non-member state, with the freezing of the $100 million per month that the Jewish State collects in taxes and customs on behalf of the PA.
In addition, after rocket attacks from the territory, Israel often closes the Kerem Shalom transfer point for goods that is located on the border between Gaza and Israel.
Beyond building housing, the report outlines a plan for agriculture, tourism, information and communication technology (ICT), light manufacturing, building materials, energy and water.
All sectors of the plan are dependent on Israeli cooperation. On the water issue, the report says there will need to be major efforts in infrastructure to generate new sources of water by building a large desalination project in Gaza, as well as sanitation efforts in both Palestinian regions.
All of this is likely to go well over the $4 billion Kerry originally mentioned.
“The success of the initiative relies heavily on the inflow of new financing into the Palestinian economy, particularly from the private sector, continued and expanded Israeli easing measures, and boosted institutional capacity within the Palestinian Authority,” the report cautions.
Palestinians say they want to make sure that Israel does not promote economic development at the price of political concessions. Since Secretary Kerry began shuttling diplomacy between the two sides, residents of both Gaza and the West Bank have expressed frustration with what they see as Israeli intransigence.
“The initiative will make a difference if it is accompanied with a political initiative. Otherwise, it could be just a way to force a detour around the political issues,” Abed Al Majid Swailem, a political science professor at Al-Quds University, told The Media Line.
He added that Israelis might use the plan as a negotiating card: “Israel is expected to use this plan as a form of a political pressure against Palestinians. It will try to gain political benefits in favor of lessening the restrictions on the Palestinian economy.”
Others say Israel will use the plan to divert international attention from the political issue.
Muhannad Abdel Hamid, a columnist with Al-Ayyam, the Palestinian daily newspaper, compared the initiative to morphine.
“These plans aim to prevent an explosion, by giving Palestinians more hope and reduce their anxiety and worry for their future,” he told The Media Line. He said the main problem with the Palestinian economy is the “Israeli occupation” and the first priority must be a political solution that ends Israeli political and economic control.
“All the previous plans by the quartet and the international community didn’t have results. On the contrary, it deepened the economic crisis because it created interim solutions and not a real solution,” he explained. “Ending the occupation will create an independent Palestinian economy. The dependence on the Israeli economy is the problem.”
The quartet agrees that this plan is an addition to, not replacement for, peace talks.
“The plan is meant to support political negotiations, but in no way to replace them,” a spokesperson for the office of the Quartet told The Media Line. “Part of the reason that the negotiations have failed in the past is because the reality on the ground was disconnected from the talks. We hope this will provide a more conducive atmosphere to political negotiations.”