Palestinians say Measures Fall Short of What is Needed

As the international committee that handles development assistance to the Palestinians meets in NY, Israel announced a series of measures meant to strengthen the Palestinian economy. Palestinian officials welcome the measures but say Israeli actions in the West Bank are making an independent Palestinian state impossible.

 In the West Bank, Israel approved the construction and renovation of 14 schools and clinics in the West Bank, funded by the Agency for International Development (USAID). Israel also approved permits for 5000 additional construction workers to enter Israel, and 2000 workers were given permits to stay overnight in Israel. Guy Inbar, the spokesman for the Israeli civil administration said a total of 60,000 Palestinians have permits to enter Israel to work in construction and agriculture.

 Israelalso transferred $50 million dollars in customs and taxes that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority several weeks before they were due. In the past, Israeli officials have been criticized for withholding this money as a form of punishment for the Palestinians.

 “We want to make sure that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is able to pay its salaries on time, especially those of the security forces,” Inbar told The Media Line. “It is in our joint interest to maintain security and stability. The additional permits will also help average Palestinians find jobs.”

Perhaps more surprisingly, Israel also lifted restrictions on Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas movement which the US and Israel consider a terrorist organization.

Israelagreed to permit a “moderate amount” of export of furniture an textiles from Gaza to the West Bank for the first time since Hamas took over in 2007. Israel also approved 16 internationally funded projects for Gaza, including the installation of a main swere line for the sewage treatment facility in Khan Yunis. Israel also agreed to update electricity transportation networks throughout Gaza.

The Israeli moves come as the World Bank has warned that the Palestinian economy could be on the verge of collapse.

“We don’t deal with whether it’s really failing,” Inbar said. “We know it’s having problems and we are trying to support the Palestinians.”

This is also in Israel’s self-interest. If the Palestinian economy completely collapsed, Israel would be responsible for running much of Palestinian daily life, including schools and health, as it did before the Palestinian Authority was formed in 1994, after the Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinians the previous year.

Palestinian officials said the measures are simply Israel’s fulfillment of its international obligations. As an occupying power, they say, Israel has to safeguard the welfare of the occupied population.

 “The Israeli moves are approvals of projects that we’ve bene struggling to get implemented,” Nour Odeh, a Palestinian government spokesman told The Media Line. “Israel has obligations to fulfill as an occupying power and w e look forward to it adhering to those obligations.”

 However, what would really jumpstart the Palestinian economy, she says, is “a rollback of the occupation” such as an end to construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the confiscation of Palestinain land.

The Palestinians are today submitting a report entitled “Moving Beyond the Status Quo: Safeguarding a Two-State Solution” to the Ad-Hoc Liason Committee called AHLC is meeting today in NY. This committee, chaired by Norway and co-sponsored by the US and the EU, coordinates developmental assistance to the Palestinian Authority.  This money helps pay salaries as well as build infrastructure projects.

The report charges that Israel is making the creation of an independent Palestinian state almost impossible, especially in “Area C”, the 64 percent of the West Bank that is under complete Israeli control and where more than 300,000 Israelis live in Jewish settlements. Israel is trying to move all Palestinians into Area A (Palestinian cities such as Ramallah, Nablus and Bethlehem) where Palestinian police have control and Area B, Palestinian villages where Israel and the PA share control.

“A new reality is being created on the ground by Israel, which is destroying the two-state solution,” the report charges. “The continuous expansion of settlements, by-pass roads, army firing zones and “seam zones” as well as the continuous Israeli policy of demolition of houses, water wells and fruit trees, and the policy of land confiscation and forced eviction of Palestinians from Area C including occupied East Jerusalem, aim at confining the Palestinian population to so-called Area A and Area B while the majority of Palestinian lands is being gradually emptied of its inhabitants in order to make way for the transfer of Israeli citizens into Palestinian territory.”

Palestinian officials say the international community must put pressure on Israel to reverse the current situation.

“We list a series of measures that the international community needs to take and compel Israel to take relating to Palestinian investment and development in Area C,” spokeswoman Odeh said. “There must be open trade between Israel and the West Bank and Israel must stop refusing to allow raw materials into Gaza under the pretext of “dual use” (meaning they could be used to build weapons) she said.