The PA Economy: A House of Cards -David Rosenberg
The real reason the West Bank [economy] is booming is because of Western largesse - some $5.5 billion in three years, or an average of $456 per person per year.
The lion's share of that money is going to fund the PA's budget deficit. It pays for too many teachers, government clerks, policemen and the like, not for new roads, schools or other investments that would develop infrastructure and provide the basis for long-term economic growth.
It's essentially a big make-work scheme aimed at buying social and political peace. The kind of things that would represent real economic growth, like private sector investment in new factories, improvements in farming or new services, isn't happening much at all because the West Bank remains a lousy place to do business.
Whether or not the West Bank gains independence, when the donor dollars dry up, the danger will reemerge.
(Jerusalem Post)
The Peace Process is Back: Prepare for War -Khaled Abu Toameh
Just as life seemed to be returning to normal in the West Bank and Gaza and Israelis and Palestinians were for the first time in many years beginning to talk about security and economic cooperation, the U.S. administration stepped in to demand that the "peace process" be resumed. Now that Israelis and Palestinians are being forced to discuss sensitive issues that each side would have preferred to avoid at this stage, their officials have stepped up rhetorical attacks on each other. It would have been better had Obama and Clinton waited [and] encouraged Israelis and Palestinians to continue with their efforts to calm the situation. The harder the U.S. pushes, the closer the two sides move toward another confrontation.
(Hudson Institute New York)
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The real reason the West Bank [economy] is booming is because of Western largesse - some $5.5 billion in three years, or an average of $456 per person per year.
The lion's share of that money is going to fund the PA's budget deficit. It pays for too many teachers, government clerks, policemen and the like, not for new roads, schools or other investments that would develop infrastructure and provide the basis for long-term economic growth.
It's essentially a big make-work scheme aimed at buying social and political peace. The kind of things that would represent real economic growth, like private sector investment in new factories, improvements in farming or new services, isn't happening much at all because the West Bank remains a lousy place to do business.
Whether or not the West Bank gains independence, when the donor dollars dry up, the danger will reemerge.
(Jerusalem Post)
The Peace Process is Back: Prepare for War -Khaled Abu Toameh
Just as life seemed to be returning to normal in the West Bank and Gaza and Israelis and Palestinians were for the first time in many years beginning to talk about security and economic cooperation, the U.S. administration stepped in to demand that the "peace process" be resumed. Now that Israelis and Palestinians are being forced to discuss sensitive issues that each side would have preferred to avoid at this stage, their officials have stepped up rhetorical attacks on each other. It would have been better had Obama and Clinton waited [and] encouraged Israelis and Palestinians to continue with their efforts to calm the situation. The harder the U.S. pushes, the closer the two sides move toward another confrontation.
(Hudson Institute New York)
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