It is politically correct to accept that Gaza’s economic woes are cause by Israeli policies. However, if you use IMF and World Bank stats, 3 points are immediately evident of Gaza’s history:

• Under Egyptian rule up to 1967, the area was an economic no-go area with life expectancy under 60
• With Israel in charge, growth leapt to over 5% per annum until 1999.
• Bring on the Intifada and then Hamas rule, and its back to disaster time.

Fertile Gaza, with an economy that could be really successful, suffers from unemployment, poor sanitation and an authoritarian  government.

For all the repeated criticism of Israel from UNRWA, NGOs, the Turkish Prime Minister and others, there is no starvation in Gaza. Consumer goods exist in quantity. There are even official tariffs to protect some local manufacturers and keep out imports. Hamas has refused to move even one Palestinian family from the refugee camps and into former Israeli towns. 

I found  a recent Newsweek article illuminating:-

While the three-year-old ban on many imports has posed a hardship for most Gazans, smugglers have been able to deliver these items through a network of tunnels connecting Gaza with Egypt. An Israeli television news segment—aired last week and widely discussed here—shows Palestinian shop owners on the phone with their Israeli suppliers, coordinating the delivery of goods by sea to Cyprus and onto Sinai, where they’re carted to Gaza through the tunnels.

So not much of a blockade. So what is likely to change now that Netanyahu has bowed again to international pressure and accepted most of Obama’s demands?

Will there be less firing on Israeli civilians, the main cause of Israeli hostility? Maybe – not out of love, but because Hamas has seen how the propaganda front can be more rewarding than firing thousands of missiles.

Ironically, if imports arrive directly into Gaza, prices may rise and Hamas may lose a source of its income. Hundreds will lose work in the tunnel industry and Hamas will cease to take its graft from the reduced contraband. Maybe, the activities will transferred to the overland ports of entry and “normality” will be restored.

Israel has agreed to up the numbers of trucks allowed to enter Gaza daily from around 100 to 150. Maybe exports can start up, which will produce a real bonus for the economy. The fact that NGOs have failed to call for this until now reveals how their focus was often directed against Israel than on behalf  of Palestinians.

What would truly make a difference is if Hamas were to recognise Israel’s right to exist. In the West Bank, where the economy has grown by around 8% in the past 12 months, there is now cooperation over sewage schemes and alternative wind energy. Rami Levy, one of Israel’s largest supermarket chains, has a new branch near Bethlehem open to all.

Why don’t world politicians force Hamas to do something that is obvious, necessary, simple and humane; to recognise Israel and to live in peace with the state? Think how much we would ALL be better off.