The West Bank's Deceptive Growth

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"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long tried to substitute the slogan of “economic peace” for genuine progress with the Palestinians on the political front.

Yet the International Monetary Fund’s projected growth of 7 percent in the West Bank for 2009 is largely the result of Palestinian reforms undertaken in spite of the obstacles Israel continues to place in the way of Palestinian development.

Too many in the West remain unaware of the impediments to economic development — not to mention political freedom — we Palestinians continue to face.

Some Israeli checkpoints have been dismantled, but any Palestinian businessman will tell you that with over 600 checkpoints and roadblocks still scattered across the West Bank, we remain in a tenuous economic position.

Few domestic or foreign investors are willing to invest in the Palestinian economy, and many Palestinian businessmen holding passports of friendly countries, even the United States, are being denied passage through Israel.

The economy of the West Bank has deteriorated over the past decade as a result of Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement, which severely hamper trade and labor mobility.

These restrictions, combined with Israel’s fragmentation of the West Bank, remain the greatest impediment to economic development in Palestine. This includes Israel’s forced isolation of occupied East Jerusalem, long the economic heart of Palestine, from the rest of the West Bank."

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The people of Palestine are the best educated Arabs in the middle east.

They have opportunties that many others don't.

It is time to put that education and billions of aid to use.

Only the Palestinians themselves can solve their own problems.

Since if I recall correctly, they've explicitly stated that they won't allow the Palestinians to establish a state unilaterally, or even the institutions thereof.

It's hard to keep track.

Who claims that he is? Hamas? Posters on this forum?

I have severe issues with the legitimacy of his appointment, but "Israeli stooge" is not an accusation I know of any reason to throw at him (which is not to say that such reasons do not exist, merely that I am unaware of them if they do).

of course, I realize that because I believe that - the "pro-Palestinian" contingent here will say he must be bad for Palestinians.

:eyes:

which may just mean that it is a good idea.

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"Western-educated Palestinian businessmen in the occupied West Bank say obstacles to sustainable development are as great as ever, despite Israel's easing of restrictions on movement.

This small group of entrepreneurs with foreign passports came to the West Bank to help develop its economy.

They say there is investment worth millions of dollars waiting for a green light, but hesitate to give it.

The goal is an economy independent of foreign aid and Israeli control. But most agree that by these measures things have actually got worse in the past year.

Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American who runs a consulting firm in the West Bank, had to take a Palestinian identity card this spring, foregoing his privileges as an American citizen.

Bahour had operated for 13 years on 3-month Israeli tourist visas. But Israel has changed the rules and now denies them to people with West Bank ties, issuing one-month visas for the "Palestinian Authority Only" for foreigners entering the West Bank from Jordan. This visa does not let them enter Israel.

In some cases the business people are simply denied entry.

Almost all Palestinian businessmen with foreign passports face this problem. Some interviewed by Reuters said they were planning to move investments abroad rather than run the risk of being suddenly barred from returning to their businesses.

Bahour said he had lost half of his business, which was in Israel, because he is no longer able to enter the country without a permit, which is temporary and difficult to obtain."

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"For years Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman has traipsed around the Middle East with a golf bag on his shoulder and a moustache full of witty catechisms about the region’s problems and their solutions. Two recent op-eds continue this trend, inspired by a recent trip to the West Bank that apparently impressed Friedman greatly.

“Green Shoots in Palestine” parts one and two, shed light on transformations in the West Bank that apparently buck the miserable trends that characterize Palestine and the Arab world at large - from poverty and underdevelopment, to illiteracy and authoritarianism.

Instead Friedman sees some “good cheer” coming from the West Bank - security, fiscal transparency, and solid economic growth - trends he encourages the U.S. to “nurture”, presumably to allow these “shoots” to mature and bear more fruit.

At least one of the articles topped the “most emailed” list on the N.Y. Times website - an accomplishment considering it is the 28th most read webpage in America. It is also a testament of how Western editors are oblivious to how wrong and hypocritical some of the things Friedman says actually are.

Friedman is not alone in promoting recent developments in the West Bank. U.S., E.U. and even some Israeli politicians have showered praise on these developments as well. Friedman’s paeans are thus consistent with his traditional grandstanding for these government’s foreign policies - from support for the U.S.-led war and occupation of Iraq, to the promotion of neo-liberalism as the panacea to world problems.

In order to expose Friedman’s arguments, it’s necessary to first provide an overview of them. Taken at face value, they may appear to some as perfectly sound. But, it is the context that Freidman fails to provide, which is so damaging and deceptive."

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