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Israel’s trade with Muslim countries

31 October 2008
1 Comment
Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinian Society

Detractors of Israel often seek to punish their enemy by demanding a trade boycott with Jerusalem. 2008 has seen several such calls from EU, Norwegians and UK Parliamentarians, to name but a few.

Here’s the catch. If such calls were to be heeded, they would hurt some of the poorer Arab and Muslim countries.

  • On Monday 27th October, 160 Israeli and Jordanian businessmen participated in the fifth annual conference of the Israel-Jordan Chamber of Commerce. Those in attendance Mr. Omar El-Atoum, Economic Officer of the embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Israel. Israeli-Jordanian trade currently stands at over 300 million dollars. (Remember – in 1994, before the peace treaty, the figure was effectively zero). Jordanian exports to Israeli reached 54.2 million dollars, representing a 42% increase over the same period (Mainly chemical industrial products and agricultural produce). For an economy of Jordan’s size, that is a significant amount of revenue. 
  • Also this week, there was final approval to establish a Palestinian – Israel Chamber of Commerce. The Peres Ceter for Peace and the UK’s Portland Trust have been prime movers here. This must be seen as a primary step to promote deeper understanding and cooperation, which will match the heights of trade between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom.
  • On Wednesday, Israel’s ambulance service, MDA, signed what amounts to a joint-venture agreement with Indonesia’s Muhammadiyah organization. Cooperation between MDA and the Indonesian rescue and emergency organization began approximately one year ago, with the arrival of a delegation of Indonesian health and community organization officials for an MDA course in Israel. 

And the list goes on. It is worth listening to the words of some of the senior partners of Salens, an international legal outfit located in 19 countries. The company recently sponsored an event at the Israel – Britain Chamber of Commerce. They believe that the way out of the global recession will be found through emerging economies.

Clearly, Israel’s strong economy has an important part to play in this game. It is essential that its ability is used to the full and for the benefit of all.

Palestinian Human Rights – alternative perspectives

26 October 2008
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Categories: Palestinian Society

The Free Gaza Movement is scheduled to send a second boat to Gaza containing containing minimal medical resources and several well known international personalities. To what level will this further the issue of human rights in the Palestinian territories?

1) The Palestinian-based Independent Commission for Human Rights noted in its September report that conditions had seriously declined in the territories:

  • 38 citizens lost their lives needlessly, including 6 in acts of revenge. Details are provided of the incidents.
  • Torture – both in Gaza and in the West Bank – continues by local security services, and in breach of the Penal Code.
  • Lawful demonstration is difficult….and so the list goes on. 

2) Gilad Schalit, an Israeli corporal kidnapped by Hamas, has yet to receive a single Red Cross visit in over 800 days of captivity. This is in stark contrast to each and every one of the very many Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons.

3) Tunnel smuggling continues, as reported by several elements of the western media. There is little protection for the under-age children building the tracks. There is heavy emphasis of devoting resources to the imports of drugs and armaments.

It is to be hoped that the “boat people” will highlight these stories when they docked. The reality will probably be otherwise. Is this Gaza movement sincerely interested in a true peace for the Middle East or a one-sided sectarian solution?

Israel’s medical services – by all and for all

17 October 2008
1 Comment
Categories: Israel, Palestinian Society

This week I wrote about my eldest son, David, acting as steward for Christians and others, parading through Jerusalem.

That same night, Adina, 2 years his junior, came home at the end of a course with Magen David Adom (MDA), the Israeli ambulance service. She has just been approved as a volunteer and she is thrilled.

Adina loves helping people. She relates that almost the first item they learnt on the course was that they must, by law, give aid to anyone, regardless of race, religion or colour. If you were to go into any Israeli hospital ward, you will find openly, peoples of all religions on both sides of the treatment areas. It is not just law, but a natural way of life for the country.

Our family knows several adults who volunteer for ambulance duty with the MDA. They tell us with some regret how their roles are now limited when they are called to go to Arab villages. The violence in recent years has forced them to wait for an army escort, before they can cary out their job. In fact last month, for the first time in years, an ambulance was able to enter Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority’s centre, in order to save a 6 month old baby. 

Gaza too benefits from this dedication. Since January 2006, there have been at least 20 occasions, where Palestinians have used medical stories as a cover to launch terror attacks. In 2006, 4,932 Palestinian patients received special treatment in Israel. That figure will double by the end of this year.

I guess true peace will be obtained not just when Gaza has better medical facacilities, but that these are available to those of a different background and religious history.

Christians in the Holy Land

15 October 2008
1 Comment
Categories: Israel, Palestinian Society

It is the second day of the Feast of Tabernacles – Succot as it is known in Israel. My 17 year old son has spent the day on steward duty, supervising the annual Jerusalem March. Despite the first rains, around 35,000 people converged on Jerusalem from 3 starting points and then paraded through the centre of the capital.

In many ways the event is a fusion of the new order meeting the old. People in the 21st century of the modern era are reaclling the foot fetivals of the past.

As ever, one of the largest groups was organised by the International Christian Embassy. This special team of people are responsible for bringing thousands of visitors to Israel each year, travelling the length and breadth of the country.

And it would wrong of me not to mention that one of my most favourite professional projects was built through one of the strongest local supporters of the embassy.

Israel is known as the one country in the region, whose Christian population has grown in the past few decades. It is sadly ironic that as thousands of overseas guests walked safely through the streets of Jerusalem, parallel news from neighbouring countries has been far less encouraging.

As nightfall descends on the Holy Land, its citizens from all religions have a lot to be proud about thankful for.

The Israeli economic alternative (2)

13 October 2008
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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinian Society

Yesterday, I wrote that the Israeli economy is essentially sound, relatively well placed to face the international credit crunch.

Sure enough, the Tel Aviv stock market did plung 8% on opening. By the end of trading, it had lost “only” 3.8%. During the day, a statement from the Ministry of Finance gave official government backing to private deposits in the local banks.

Few have considered how this international mayhem will effect the Palestinian – Israel peace process. One immediate thought is that if governments are having to spend more on domestic needs, there will be fewer spare resources for overseas aid – ie, less for the Palestinians.

Bad thing? Possibly. This may provoke a turn to more senseless violence. Alternatively, the Palestinians and Fatah may finally understand that the pot is not bottomless. The billions of annual support from UNRWA, the EU and elsewhere require fuller accountability, both towards their own and for the overseas community.

3 Observations on the Palestinian Economy

7 October 2008
1 Comment
Categories: Israel, Palestinian Society

Palestinian presidential elections are approaching. As usual, in order to cover up the national divisions, attention is often diverted to the poor economic conditions engulfing the Palestinian territories, and why Israel must be to blame for all that is wrong

1) The World Bank in September 2008 produced yet another report on the Palestinian economy. It has reduced 30% since the Intifada broke out. Unemployment is at 30%. And to paraphrase a 122 page document, the way to growth lies through increased aid and fewer Israeli roadblocks. Yes?

Well, it sounds politically correct. However, in the words of the bank’s own former regional expert, Nigel Roberts, the Palestinians have received more aid per capita than any other population. And this investment has neither done the job nor has it all been accountable.

As for roadblocks, the 2008 report confirms that the economy had grown at 6% per year for the 6 years up to 2000 and the beginning of the violent Intifada against Israel. The true logic demands that Hamas and Fatah stop its war against Jerusalem, which would then enable Olmert and co to get rid of the security measures and thus significantly increase the welfare of Gaza and Ramallah.

2) The World Bank produces a report on the Palestinians almost once in 9 months. How many does it hand out on Somalia? The pressure group, Human Rights Watch has just labelled that country as “the most ignored tragedy in the world today”. You have to wonder what motivates the world to concentrate on the Palestinians, investing heavily in resources which disappear, as millions others are forgotten and abandoned around the world.

3) 5 times a week, about 90 trucks of food, clothing, medical materials and other necessities reach Gaza from Israel. In parallel, it is now emerging that Gaza is responsible for vast sums of money entering Muslim charities inside Israel proper. Poverty may be a clever piece of spin in the war against Israel, but its hypocrisy is becoming dangerously exposed.

Water shortage – Israel and the Palestinians

3 October 2008
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Categories: Israel, Palestinian Society

It is an open fact that the Middle East is chronically short of water. If there are reserves of this “liquid gold”, they are hidden in remote areas of Turkey.

Nowhere is the problem more acute than in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. (Remember that under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel is obliged to supply detailed amounts of water upto the entrance to Palestinian towns and cities).

So what can be done? I spoke to one israeli team that can take water out of the atmosphere in commercial quantities for on-site agricultural use. Another approach is to conserve water use. Israel has much to do here, especially amongst few maintenance.

Another aspect demanding immediate attention is untreated sewage, seaping off into streams and rivers. The estimate for 2007 was that 178km of untreated muck had found its way into these open water flows, which form the basis for drinking water supplies in many Palestinian regions. Equally critical was the misuse of groundwaters for agriculture, as opposed to drinking. Again, it is the citizen who suffers as the Palestinian Authority is only capable of mismanegemnt.

With a degree of political irony, it appears that the two populations are tied together…by a series of underground aquifiers. No amount of rhetoric or violence can change that. If Hamas and Fatah do not start cooperating with the Israeli authorities – the ones with the technology, resources the will and  the finances – then both sets of populations are going to be suffering even further, and in their own kitchens.

Israeli or Palestinian Society

11 September 2008
No comments
Categories: Israel, Palestinian Society

Over the past decade Israel has received a lousy press abroad on the subject of human rights. Strange that for a country which has full freedom of worship, has non-Jews in its Parliament representating several political parties, and has a myriad of national papers.

By way of comparison, yesterday I received a report from the Ramallah-based Independent Commission for Human Rights. Every month they highlight abuses by Palestinian officials in Gaza and the West Bank. Using names, dates, places, in August 2008 alone, they refer to: –

    • 1 female citizen who died through so-called “honour crimes”
    • 8 citizens were reported to have been killed in family fights and acts of revenge
    • 15 complaints from citizens alleging that they were subjected to torture while they were being detained or interrogated. In the Gaza Strip, ICHR received 7 grievances from citizens, claiming that they were subjected to torture.
    • Attacks on charitable houses and orphanages
    • Interference with the legal system
    • Blocking distribution of daily newspapers

  • ~

Palestinian Economy

9 September 2008
1 Comment
Categories: Israel, Palestinian Society

It is said that the Israeli economy has grown by over 30% in 5 years, despite wars and the Intifada. The Palestinian economy is just the opposite.

The best proof for this came from Nigel Roberts, a senior offical at the World Bank. He has noted that Palestinians receive the highest level of aid per capita in the world, but implies that little seems to come of it.

And now along comes a report from Israel’s Civil Administration, responsible for the social and economic welfare of the West Bank. It starts by saying that as a result of less violence in the region, over 100 roadblocks have been removed. And thus?

Unemployment is dropping fast, although still too high at 19%. Tourism in places like Bethlehem has nearly doubled upto June 2008. Agricultural exports to Israel are up 25%, even after a disasterous weather spell. And so on.

This all generates real income, which assumedly must filter to the average man in the street. This will weaken the dependence on aid. And it was this aid, which seemed to feed only the violence and thus, ironically, into stabilising previous poverty levels.

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