“It's nothing new for Israel to hear accusations that its siege of the Palestinian economy is a hindrance to peace."
Hearing it from its closest friends is,” The Associated Press said in a report on the increasing pressures on Israel to end the economic sanctions imposed on the Palestinian territories since the outbreak of the Intifada late September.
“You can't nurture peace in fallow ground,” the agency quoted US Secretary of State Colin Powell as linking the recent unprecedented Palestinian economic devastation to the increase in Palestinian violence. This was a new voice echoing a long-standing claim:
"If people are not able to get to their jobs, they become more frustrated," said Powell, who flinched last week when he saw tanks blocking roads from Israel into the West Bank. "Frustration leads to anger, and then anger to violence."
Ambassador Martin Indyk, a trusted US official among Israelis, brought the point home again Friday in a talk with Israeli businessmen, said the AP.
"The Palestinian economy is on the brink of collapse," he said. "A state of semi-anarchy and gang rule is engulfing the West Bank and Gaza," he claimed.
The European Union and human rights groups have made the point and even the apolitical World Bank unexpectedly turned a Palestinian loan request into a grant to help counter the "severe economic shock" caused by the shutdown.
The American Jews seem to be aware of the danger. Leo Kramer, a Washington businessman well known for negotiating deals with labyrinthine Third World bureaucracies, was asked by Israel in 1994 to help spur Palestinian investment. He's still at it but expresses profound frustration -- and blames Israeli obtuseness, said the agency.
"The insensitivity was amazing," he said, recalling a day spent at a Gaza-Israel crossing watching citrus fruits rotting in the sun while Israeli security officials took breaks. "Here, there would be a scandal."
Israelis say they are keenly interested in Palestinian economic success as an underpinning for peace, but security is paramount.
"Israel will not allow Palestinians to come and work in Israel if those Palestinians will attack and harm innocent Israeli civilians," Israeli Embassy spokesman Mark Regev was quoted as saying in response to Powell's comments.
Financial reports issued by both the UN and Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics have added a disturbing financial dimension to the tragic Intifada toll of over 400 lives as Israeli restrictions continue to block the flow of both cash and humanitarian shipments into the Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian Authority has issued an emergency appeal for the $50 million in cash they need immediately to stave off bankruptcy. The infusion of cash is needed within the next few weeks to pay the salaries of more than 100,000 public sector employees and maintain PA services. The PA explained that it had “exhausted” local banks and that foreign banks have refused to offer any loans.
“We are on the verge of bankruptcy,” PA Finance Ministry director-general Sami Ramlawi reported. “Last month (January), we couldn’t pay (normal) salaries and had to pay only a portion of them.” Officials said that checks issued by the PA, including aid payments to families of those killed in clashes with Israel, are bouncing.
Many of the health services are now provided by the Islamic opposition, which vehemently wars against a peace settlement with Israel that might compromise Palestinian rights.
The United Nations has joined the growing chorus of demands for emergency aid. “The Palestinian Authority will within just a few weeks not be able to pay its salaries which, as an effect, may lead to a collapse of key Palestinian institutions, which again might lead to chaos and anarchy in the Palestinian areas,” commented UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen.
A report released from the office of the UN Special Coordinator places a total figure of $1.15 billion on the losses to the Palestinian economy caused by the Israeli restrictions and border closures.
“The lack of freedom of movement of people and goods caused by the present crisis has resulted in socio-economic hardships in the Palestinian Territory,” the UN report concludes. ‘During the 123-day period from October 1, 2000 to January 31, 2001, the Israeli-Palestinian border used for labor and trade flows was closed for 93 days or 75.6 percent of the time. Internal movement restrictions and internal closures-partial or sever, have been in place for 100 percent of the time in the West Bank and for 89 percent of the time in Gaza. The international border crossings to Jordan (from the West Bank) and to Egypt (from Gaza) have been closed for 29% - 50% of the time, respectively,” the report said.
The Israeli authorities have also effectively blocked the delivery of humanitarian shipments to the occupied territories from Jordan. The paper quoted a Palestinian official as refuting Israeli claims that part of an Iraqi flour shipment was refused entry into the Palestinian territories last week because the flour was unfit for (human) consumption.
“Israel,” the official said, ‘is simply continuing its delaying tactics to prevent humanitarian contributions such as rice, sugar and flour from reaching the Palestinians as quickly as possible.” Palestinian Chargé d’Affairs, Atallah Khairi, was quoted as saying that “nearly 10,000 tons of donated Iraqi flour have been stranded in Jordan for several weeks” since the Israeli authorities are insisting that the shippers follow the slow, lengthy procedure of submitting a renewed delivery application to the Israeli authorities.
When Alaa Abu Elbeh, the Palestinian bus driver, rammed his vehicle through a crowd of Israeli soldiers and civilians in Tel Aviv last month, his family, neighbors and the PA insisted that he had no political affiliation, and he was only a frustrated average Palestinian choked by his personal economic problems and the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian lands – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
