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Treating swine flu in the Gaza Strip

8 December 2009
2 Comments
Categories: Israel, Palestinians

European politicians have spent the past month arguing that Israel does not do enough for peace.

I have maintained that if you look at efforts on the ground, the above hypothesis remains simply that, a theory; the efforts of real life are very different and truly encouraging.

So here is an example of what I mean. What follows is a statement released today from Israel’s Ministryof Defense.  

Press Release:  Outbreak of Swine Flu in the Gaza Strip

 Israel has already transferred 10,000 doses of vaccine and continues to monitor the situation

 In light of recent cases of swine flu in the Gaza Strip, the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the Gaza District Coordination and Liaison Office (DCL) are working with the Palestinian Civil Committee in Gaza (associated with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority) to prevent further cases.

During the course of day, the passage of a sick person was facilitated and, upon examination, the individual’s illness was found to be swine flu.  Similarly, four other ill persons who also showed signs of swine flu also crossed.

The Gaza DCL is in continuous contact with health officials from the Palestinian Civil Committee in Gaza and as such is able to create up-to-date situation assessments regarding swine flu.  Meetings are held with high frequency and in accordance with reports from Gaza.

 As of now, approximately 10,000 doses of vaccine against swine flu have been transferred to the Gaza Strip via Israel, which remains ready to receive further requests.

 Since the beginning of 2009, approximately 8,000 Gazan patients and their loved ones have entered Israel for medical reasons.

Gaza DCL Commander Col. Moshe Levi said: “The Gaza DCL is making great efforts on all levels and through all channels to assist the non-combatant Palestinian population from the Gaza Strip, with an emphasis on the field of health.  This is part of our overall humanitarian effort vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip.”

Observations on the Palestinian economy

4 December 2009
1 Comment
Categories: Business, Palestinians

Until the onset of the second Intifada in 2000, the World Bank considered the Palestinian economy as one of the fastest growing economies on record. Years of suicide bombers, Israel restricting labourers entering the country, incursions into Gaza and more had left the Palestinian territories broke.

In the past year or so, it has been accepted that violence is down. Israel has removed dozens of roadblocks. Palestinians are seen back in the Israeli workforce. Have these changes combined to give an economic boost?

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to report strong shifts on the ground. For example, independent journalist Tom Gross wrote in the Wall Street Journal that:

As I sat in the plush office of Ahmad Aweidah, the suave British-educated banker who heads the Palestinian Securities Exchange, he told me that the Nablus stock market was the second best-performing in the world so far in 2009, after Shanghai. (Aweidah’s office looks directly across from the palatial residence of Palestinian billionaire Munib al-Masri, the wealthiest man in the West Bank.)

Later I met Bashir al-Shakah, director of Nablus’s gleaming new cinema, where four of the latest Hollywood hits were playing that day. Most movies were sold out, he noted, proudly adding that the venue had already hosted a film festival since it opened in June.

On his own blog, Gross posted pictures, originally shown in the newspaper “Palestine Today”. They show Gaza during the recent Eid festivities. Shops full of goods, a galaxy away from the photos shown by most of the world media.

This information comes as a welcome relief to the stated economic aims of Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus. He was quoted on the Filisteen al-’An website as saying: “most of Hamas’ funds and efforts are invested in the resistance and military preparations”

The Wall Street Journal assesses that the Palestinian economy will grow by 5% in 2009, despite the global credit crunch and having to absorb returnees from Dubai. 

Any impact of lower remittances would most likely be softened if those workers find work in the West Bank. With a building boom under way in Ramallah and other Palestinian cities, fueled partly by international aid money totaling $1.7 billion in 2008, many returning from Dubai are finding jobs.

Jerusalem & coexistence – where do they meet?

30 November 2009
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Categories: Israel, Jerusalem, Palestinians

Read the international press, and you could assume that Jerusalem is one divisive city. After all, Jerusalem has been the centre of disputes for thousands of years; 2 destroyed temples, crusades, Turkish rule, 4 different Christian sects fighting today for control of the Church of the Holy Sceptre, different orthodox Jewish groups, and loads more. So, it is easy for editors to play on the theme. 

But if you walk round the city itself, you would have to ask why such drivel is sent to print by respected journalists. Jerusalem actively and continuously supports projects which encourage coexistence.

I recently wrote about Jerusalem hospitals hosting co-projects with Palestinians. I did not mention the sprawling Alyn rehab centre. It has been the saviours of countless lives, particularly young children, from all ethnic backgrounds. 

Alyn’s “Wheels of Love” annual bike ride saw 650 participants from over 12 countries and several religions raise nearly US$3 million. When the bikers returned, many kids and their families, several distinguishable from their different attire, came to meet them.

Sounds too inspiring or Hollywoody, take something more mundane. Israel’s police force has sent a delegation to Northern Ireland to teach their co-professionals about “fair policing models”. 

These are successful techniques, which have evolved over time. Whether it be work in Jerusalem’s crowded streets or patrolling the diverse communities in the north of Israel, the Holy Land has much to teach police counterparts overseas.

Last Thursday night, I enjoyed a wonderful “thanksgiving meal”.  I met up with one of the founders of the Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which now has reps in dozens of countries around the globe. With other friends, we commented on the new park planned in East Jerusalem, next to several Arab suburbs……..And the list goes on.

Yes. Not all is rosy. In the past 2 months, there have been provoked riots in the Old City. And ultra orthodox Jews have taken to the streets with violence against the police.

But these are not the stories of what is going on daily, the on-going stories of good news. And now you appreciate why good news rarely makes it in to leading media outlets.

Dubai 0: Israel 1

29 November 2009
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Categories: Business, Israel, Jerusalem, Palestinians

Like Iceland, Dubai tried to expand too fast, until boring old reality caught up with it. Sooner or later, people will not finance debt without reward.

Meanwhile, Israel plods along with its mundane officials ensuring that the essentials are done right. Hence, the encouraging growth predictions from the Treasury, the IMF, Barclays Capital and others for 2010.

So why are most Israeli financiers rather amused at the Dubai fiasco? Well, first of all, because of the malicious Arab Boycott, officially Israelis are not allowed to conduct affairs with Dubai. Just speak to tennis player Shahar Peer, who has been banned from taking part in competitions there.

So, maybe the view from the Holy Land is that these guys are getting what it deserves.

On the other hand, business encourages any politicians, including those from Dubai, to be hypocrites. Today’s Israeli press reports of Kibbutz Afikim and maybe a dozen other agricultural companies that have or are conducting commerce in the country. I have a Jerusalem friend, who regularly travels there to go to exhibitions, where he meets other Hebrew speakers. etc etc etc.

Yes, Israel’s wealthy have bought interests in Dubai and will suffer, at least in the short-term. Lev Leviev has a flagship diamond shop in Dubai. Yes, Israel’s stock market will dip temporarily in sympathy with its rivals around the world.

Actually, the most interesting effect on Israel may come through the back door. It is estimated that up to 100,000 Palestinians are in danger of losing their jobs and being thrown out of Dubai. I wonder where they will go?

Managing ethnic relations in hospitals

19 November 2009
1 Comment
Categories: Israel, Palestinians

There was a Jew and a Muslim and a Christian…it sounds like the start of another corny joke.

Now imagine that you are running a large organisation, where you had significant affiliates of these different religions on your staff. Imagine the special conditions required. Add in that your are located in the Middle East, and you could have the a potential time-bomb on your hands.

By law, the Israeli medical system is open to all, both staff and patients. Some years ago, when my teenage son was hospitalised for a few days, 50% of the ward that week was not Jewish. And the doctors were offering a mixture of languages and cultures.

The experience of Israeli hospitals offers a wonderful message for the stop-start peace process.

For example, Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus hosted a day-long seminar this month on oncological care for 30 doctors, nurses and graduate nursing students from Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron and other West Bank cities.

Yazed Falah, who oversees the coordination between the PA and Rambam said that the seminar was part of the ongoing cooperation between Rambam and the Palestinian Authority. “We initiate activities and seminars like this all the time because we are obligated, on a human level, to help sick people regardless of politics.”

Delegation member Dr Sumia Saij, instructor at Al-Kuds University in Tubas, spoke on the reality in Palestinian Authority hospitals. “In many cases, we don’t have the qualification, the budget or the tools to give medical care to patients who arrive at the hospital. Seminars like this allow us to….reduce the gaps between hospitals in the PA and the more advanced facilities in Israel.”

Every week, some 50 children come to Rambam from the PA to receive oncological and hematological treatments. But this is not an isolated story.

The Sha’are Zedek hospital in Jerusalem last week hosted the Middle East Cancer Consortium and the  Palestinian Al Sadeel Society for a 3 day seminar. The hospital has a number of joint programmes running with different ethnic sectors.

And so the list goes on. To find equivalent projects initiated from the arge Shaati hospital in Gaza has not been possible. Similarly, two Israeli doctors were “disinvited” to a cancer research symposium in Egypt, after their national origins were verified. (Although they were later asked back following strong external representations, they declined). 

It can done if you want to make it happen. Israel has repeatedly shown the way. Time for others to join in and share the benefits.

 

The “choked” Palestinian economy

12 November 2009
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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

“Israel is stifling the Palestinian economy by implementing a closure regime, and blocking it from developing export markets.”

This often-repeated rhetoric of Palestinian leaders was explained yet again by the former Palestinian minister of national economy, Bassem Khoury, speaking openly in Jerusalem this week.

To sum up the argument: Israel’s restrictive military procedures in the West Bank and around Gaza hinder freedom of movement. Until that issue is dealt with, there can be no true economic progress.

As an Israeli, I can say, and read the whole sentence: Khoury is correct  but only in a very limited context of political spin.

Look even the Israeli government knows that roadblocks etc do not help Palestinian society. Minister Silvan Shalom reopened the Jalama crossing this week, north of Jenin. He described how:

The opening of the Jalama crossing, like other actions we are promoting, contributes not only to creating trust and understanding, but [is an] important engine of growth. Opening the crossing to vehicles will enable the movement of dozens of cars and trucks between Israel and the city of Jenin every day. Opening the crossing will promote the Palestinian economy by bringing in Israeli Arabs as consumers to Palestinian cities.

But from here on, Khoury’s argument is not just shallow, but false to the point of dangerous. Why?

  1. The World Bank has confirmed that until the violence of the Intifada commenced,  the Palestinian economy was one of the world’s strongest between 1968 and 1999. As the violence has decreased, stats show that growth is edging back towards previous levels. No violence means no restrictions of movement. Simple and undisputable.
  2. Even Khoury acknowledges that the current fiscal crisis is due to “a 55% drop in the foreign aid as compared to 2008”. According to the World Bank reports, most of the unfulfilled promises historically come form members of the Arab League.
  3. And if Khoury wants greater cooperation, how about letting Israelis trade openly with Palestinians. It is an accepted fact that in most of the territories, Israeli products are banned, while Palestinian agricultural products are found in Israeli stores.

When the global recession took hold in September 2008, the Israeli commercial community as a whole took the view: “Let’s find a way to get out of it, and not wait for others to help us”. There is a message there for the country’s neighbours.

Encouraging Palestinian suffering – a boycott

9 November 2009
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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

In September 2000, Yasser Arafat launched the Intifada. An  immediate result of the security concerns was that Israel ceased to employ 125,000 Palestinians from the territories. 125,000 employees  – well paid compared to similar positions in Gaza and in Hebron – lost their wage packet almost instantly.

9 years later, supporters of human rights are asking British customers not to buy Israeli agricultural products. They intend that such a boycott will bolster the livelihood of Palestinians.

Just as the Intifada saw a sharp drop in Palestinian GDP, which is only just showing signs of a full recovery, so too will a boycott of Israel have an equally devastating effect. How so?

Simple – every day, tens of thousands of Palestinians work on Israeli farms. As increasingly supported by Israeli civil law, their conditions are improving annually. Just as with a decade ago, these are comparatively high salaries. Unemployment in the Palestinian territories is still over 20%. They are unlikely to find alternative jobs.

To take the argument one step further, most of Israel’s agricultural exports herald from peripheral areas, where wages are already comparatively low. So a boycott is going to effect Palestinians, along with Bedouin, Jew, Arab and Christian, all re-entering together the poverty trap.

For some, no work is often leads to the path of extremism, a horrible and useless experience for all sides.

With some irony, it is the British themselves who will also suffer from any such boycott. Aside from being deprived of excellent produce, they will create unemployment for their own folk.

Israel is Britain’s largest trading partner in the Middle East – excluding Saudi Arabia with its sales of oil and purchases of armaments. Imagine how many homeland-based British livelihoods a boycott would threaten! Billions of pounds of trade dumped into the sea, only to be trawled away by hungry competitors.

The hypocrisy of the boycott argument is further exposed by its own advocates. They do not call for an imports on Saudi oil not a ban on the use of cheap toys from China, despite the oppressive regimes. And they disseminate their information by e-mail, when their computers are run on Intel tech created in Israel.

Even the spin lacks credibility. For example, such people claim that Israel syphons off water from Palestinian towns, when the opposite is true.

When a political call for action is based in disinformation and will only wound those it is supposedly trying to help, then others must consider the true motivation of hate behind such a movement.

4 comments on the Palestinian economy

3 November 2009
3 Comments
Categories: Business, Israel, Jerusalem, Palestinians

As Palestinians head towards elections in January 2010, few external commentators will be looking at their financial leadership. So let me chip in with some opening thoughts.

1) Israeli military restrictions are often held up as the sole or main cause of poor Palestinian living standards. In parallel, reports from the World Bank for the past 5 years have consistently chastised the Palestinian Authority (PA) for its excessive levels of public spending.

 This is a euphemism for employing too many people, particularly in the security services. 60% of the PA budget is devoted to paying salaries, including Hamas officials in Gaza. When will the government have the courage to reduce this patronage?

2) Another issue often ignored is the non-delivery on promises of donations, made by members of the Arab League, or its non-accountability in the books. This was brought to light again by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). With 57 members, it is the second largest inter-governmental body after the UN.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Ihsanoglu berates Israel and observes how the Goldstone Commission was a pre-planned tactic. But he effectively admits that much of the money raised on behalf of Gaza cannot be accounted for.  He mentions $100m. He clarifies that the Palestinians received $37m, of which $21m came from Norway. Where is the missing US$56m?

3) Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper eloquently explained why increased supervision of Palestinian accounting is needed by the international community.

The Government is sending British police and intelligence officers to the West Bank to try to stop a wave of brutal torture by Palestinian security forces, funded by UK taxpayers.

Their mission is to set up and train a new ‘internal affairs’ department with sweeping powers to investigate abuse and bring torturers to justice.

The department is being paid for by Britain, with an initial planning budget of £100,000 – a sum set to soar as it becomes established.

Yesterday a senior official from the semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority (PA), which runs the West Bank and its security agencies, admitted for the first time that torture, beatings and extra-judicial killings have been rife for the past two years, with hundreds of torture allegations and at least four murders in custody, the most recent in August.

And as noted by the World Bank, about 25% of the PA expenditure is supported by external donations, particularly from Western countries. They are effectively paying for the salaries of these people.

4) Despite the abuse of budgetary control, the World Bank notes that since 2008, as violence has reduced, so economic activity has risen. Just visit new shopping centres in key Palestinian cities like Ramallah and Jenin for proof.

However, a note of warning. This is the Middle East, where logic is often a poor way to analyse the geopolitical dynamics. Just before the outbreak of the Intifada in the year 2000, Palestinians were enjoying their best economic boom ever. Back then, the realities of the peace process ensured how that prosperity would not continue.

Nine years later on, will the Palestinian leadership, through their rioting on the Temple Mount and actions from Gaza, allow the same thing to happen?

Water technology: Israeli and Palestinian experiences

28 October 2009
1 Comment
Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

Israel can be proud of her contributions to modern water technology.

The WATEC 09 exhibition, which takes place in 2 weeks time in tel Aviv, is one of the most important show-events on the global circuit. Local companies like IDE lead in desalinisation tech. I am working with company that extracts commercial quantities of water from the atmosphere.

And the flattering list of accolades is not something that emerged overnight. Israel was a pioneer of drip irrigation through Netafim and others.

The results for the local economy have been enormous. Israel’s Water Commission released a 37 page pdf report in April 2009.  Per capite cubic meter consumption has continued to drop this decade – approx 150 for 2008. 40 years ago, the figure was over 500.

And despite 5 years of constant below-average rainfalls, the country has been able to honour its agreements with its neighbours. Jordan still receives water under the peace treaty. The Palestinians, who negotiated their needs via Article 40 of Annex III to the Oslo Accords, are now receiving far beyond what was agreed 15 years ago.

To give a specific example, the Water Commission noted that “it was agreed to transfer to the Gaza Strip an additional 5 MCM/yr from Israel’s national system (at a price equal to the cost of desalinated water plus transport). The supply pipeline for this purpose was laid by Israel up to the border with the Gaza Strip.”

In fact, the Palestinian attitude towards increasing poor water resources in the region can be described as disappointing.

Yes, the Palestinian economy weaknesses do not allow the government to invest in infrastructure as it would wish. There again, there does not allow it to relinquish its responsibilities. As anecdotal evidence, I live near southern Ramallah. And last summer, the region suffered unduly from mosquitos due to untreated sewage and wasted water.

Given this background, a recent report by Amnesty International (AI) is not just disappointing. AI has declared that Israel is deliberately misusing water resources to the extent that the Palestinians are left with minimal reserves. Yet for many, this is a misleading accusation, pouring oil on a region already burning with violent distrust. 

It is not clear why an organisation, gleaming with its success in supporting the rights of political prisoners, has entered into the arena of ecology. Nor is it obvious how AI can substantiate its claims, when it deliberately did not ask the Israelis authorities for supporting documentation.

From Israel’s point of view, the Palestinians have violated their commitments under the water agreement from Oslo:  Eg over 250 wells drilled without the authorization of the Joint Water Commission (JWC). Further, despite their obligations to establish sewage plants and having obtained foreign funding for the purpose, only one plant (El Bireh) has been built in 15 years.

The JWC has approved 82 new wells. Lt.-Col. Amnon Cohen, head of Israel’s civil administration’s infrastructures department, observed that: –

43 are in Areas A and B, which are under PA control and they do not need us involved. Out of the remaining 39, in Area C and under Israeli security control, 21 have been approved and 11 have not even been submitted for approval.” (In addition, over 55 other wells have been approved for upgrading).

The Oslo Accords clearly state that Israel has an obligation to bring water up to the entrance to the main cities and surrounding areas. The amounts have been increased over the years.  The Accords also ensure that responsibility for final distribution is in the hands of the local Palestinian authorities.

So, if the average citizen does not receive the water, than why is Amnesty blaming Israel and its technology? The accusation is similar to the financial aid that Palestinian people are supposed to receive but can never be traced. Everything has disappeared down the same dark, dark plug hole.

Find the hole and those guarding it, and you will start to understand who is perverting the casue of peace in the Middle East. Now there’s a project for Amnesty International.

The hidden peace in the Middle East

26 October 2009
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Categories: Israel, Jerusalem, Palestinians

On the surface, signs for peace in the Middle East are looking faded.

George Mitchell’s shuffle diplomacy has revealed the naivety of the Obama regime. Camera evidence from Jerusalem’s Temple Mount show that the recent disturbances are the result of deliberate extremist provocation. And with President Abbas calling elections for January 2010, he will not want to portray himself to his electorate as a man of compromise.

So what are we left with? Answer is that if you take out the politicians and let ordinary people get on with it,there are a few yet significant moves to peace taking place.

Take the campus of Beershaba university, where 15 Jordanian students are studying for bachelors in emergency medical care. No, this is not a one-off story. The Save A Child Heart unit at the Wolfson Hospital has spent years treating Palestinian babies and training doctors from Bethlehem or nearby.

Away from the medical arena, a group of Israeli physicists have invested in a new technology to bring electricity to poor Palestinian villages. The Everest Hotel near Bethlehem and the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem are deliberate meeting points for Israelis and Palestinians to get together.

In Jericho, a synagogue, dating back to the sixth century, had been ransacked in the early part of the Intifada. Nearly a decade later, the Palestinian Authority has helped to ensure that the renovations have been completed. With a joint Israeli-Palestinian patrol, a group of ultra-orthodox Jews have begun to hold prayers at the site.

You want more? Check out Jordan and Israel’s work together over protecting the Dead Sea. Investigate the joint sewage and tourist projects in the Jenin/ Gilboah regions. Talk to the tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel during an average week.

Ghadaffi’s calls to give Palestinians nuclear arms – the new calls in the UK to boycott Israeli products, culture or academics – violence against holy sites in Jerusalem; all of these actions are updated versions of the hatred of the past, which resulted in violence and hopelessness and death.

The actions of coexistence described here are the genuine steps towards creating a peace dynamic. They need to be told about, encouraged and copied. It is time for analysts to discover a new genre within the Middle East.

More dead Palestinians ignored by Goldstone

4 October 2009
2 Comments
Categories: Israel, Palestinian Society, Palestinians

The Goldstone commission, under UN direction, looked at human rights abuses against Palestinians.

The final report has come in for much criticism from Israel. And yet, with some irony, it is the Palestinian Authority, which has interrupted the progress of the document on the way to the UN’s General Assembly. The reasons for this change of direction vary – ranging from American pressure to a desire to return to the peace process.

The Palestinian Commission for Human Rights suggests an alternative cause for policy alteration. Its latest report, referring to August 2009, makes for damning reading, a mess of violations of human rights, where Israel has had no direct or indirect role.

ICHRdocumented 48 cases of death in the Palestinian-controlled Territory during August 2009. 41 of which took place in the Gaza Strip. In terms of cause of death, these cases are distributed as follows: 28 deaths were attributed to armed clashes in Rafah city, while 3 deaths were linked to violent family disputes and rivalry. In addition, 3 lives were lost due to security chaos and manslaughter while 7 death cases resulted of tunnels accidents.

 

 

 

 

 

As for the West Bank,

 

7 death cases occurred, the causes of which are distributed as follows: one death case occurred in a detention center in Nablus; 5 deaths were linked to family disputes and one death case occurred as a result of negligence and the non-adoption of general safety precautions. death case occurred in a detention center in Nablus;5 deaths were linked to family disputes and one precautions.

The report details names, places, dates, hard facts. It cites the customary harassment of the press, sexual harrassment and the lack of basic religious freedoms.

For all Israel’s criticisms of the Goldstone Report, it strikes me that the commission has failed those people it was trying to help. The report failed to point out and stress these repeated yet hidden deprivations in the life of ordinary Palestinians. If not the UN, who will halt this continuous saga of shame?

Watching Israel reflect and atone

25 September 2009
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Categories: Israel, Palestinians

This coming Sunday, Jews around the world begin a 25 hour fast. The holiest day in the calendar, The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, is a sombre occasion.

In Israel, the country effectively closes down. And as often happens, the day coincides closely with the end of the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fasted during the hours of daylight.

This is a period for deep inner soul searching. In Judaism, the New Year festival is when you ask for forgiveness from your friends and family. Once that has been done, verbally, you try to scratch a deal with The Higher Authority on Yom Kippur.

No easy task. As my rabbi pointed recently, there are some inherent logical contradictions in the theological process. So it gets complicated.

Specifically, in the Holyland itself, we are a country that has a lot to rethink. Leave aside shaky business decisions for the moment. And despite what Goldstone may believe, neither the Israeli establishment nor overall electorate is out “to get” the Palestinians.

No: I am referring to Israel’s two most former senior statesmen; President Katsav and Prime Minister Olmert. They have both left office through resignation and both are now facing prosecution by the very offices they represented.

For the record, Katsaz is suspected of a series of incidents relating to sexual harassment. Olmert faces 3 sets of charges, related to bribery. With some irony, his trial begun today. Both had considerable support in their day from the non-Jewish sector as well.

Israelis do not have to take responsibility for the alledged crimes. They can blame the individuals or the system or whatever. But then I recall that old phrase: “The people get the politicians they deserve”.

And when you internalise those 7 words, you begin to ask yourself some very painful questions. How did we let the system of strict proportional representation carry on for so long? Why did allow ourselves to accept these people, who clearly had untold background issues. (No – I am not prejudging their present trials)? Why have we been so lazy?  

And of course, there is an underlying implication. Until the country takes it upon themselves to be more ethical, responsive, sincere – or as the same rabbi put it, to be more genuinely empathetic towards others – then we can expect to be served more of the same. Surely not? But there again, in the past month, two former cabinet ministers commenced prison terms.

Matt Rees once wrote that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not and cannot be resolved fully until each society atones for and handles some of its own internal inequities. Inactivity is often just a big a sin and as dangerous as the deed itself!

Now there is something to reflect upon, as your tummy is rumbling with hunger.

Look closely at what Israel does – Palestinians

17 September 2009
1 Comment
Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinian Society, Palestinians

As Jews to prepare to celebrate their New Year and Muslims conclude the fasting period of Ramadan, I have prepared a series of article on what you may not know about Israel.

The first text questions if Israel is really interested in helping the Palestinian economy.

Early next week, the ad-hoc liaison committee monitoring international aid to the Palestinians will meet in New York. Israel prepared a submission, heavily reliant on stats supplied from the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics.

Some the highlights of the report reveal that:-

  1. Since 2008, foreign investment in the West Bank has risen by 600%. (You have to ask why the same is not true for Gaza.)
  2. The IMF estimates that GDP in 2009 will climb by 7%. To Matching this, unemployment dropped from 20% to 16% in 2Q09.
  3. Direct and indirect trade between the two territories continues to climb. In fact dozens more roadblocks were removed this week.
  4. The number of work permits and the accredited business cards issued for Palestinians in Israel is rising almost daily.
  5. Cooperation over tourism, VAT collection, fiscal issues and other commercial matters have been launched from Jerusalem in the past year.
  6. Despite the Hamas authoritarian rule in Gaza, humanitarian supplies are continuing almost daily and at a growing rate. This includes nearly 3,500 tons of medical equipment delivered in the first 6 months of 2009.
  7. In June 2009 alone, 1,700 residents of Gaza received medical treatment in Israel. Under the Oslo Accords, Hamas is responsible for health policy and its implementation.

As I was writing this, news came through from the United Kingdom that the Trades Union movement has voted to boycott some Israeli goods, following Israel’s policy towards Gaza. Ironic? Or a reminder of a sinister past based on ignorance?

What economic peace can mean for Palestinians

11 September 2009
1 Comment
Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

Netanyahu, Olmert, Rabin and Barak are just some of the leading Israeli politicians, who have seen to promote peace with the Palestinians through economic cooperation.

The Peres Center, set up over a decade ago by Israel’s current President, has been more active than most in this sphere. A glimpse at the organisation’s website reveals a myriad of recent projects: –

  • A training course for 20 Palestinians in the meat packing industry.
  • Through “Cisco Israel”, training Jewish and Muslim women together for hightech.
  • The Agriculture, Water and Environment Department organised a professional research visit to Jericho and Auja for representatives of the Israeli and Palestinian Ministries of Agriculture.
  • Sixteen Palestinian handicrafts companies presented their products in Israel’s leading house ware gifts exhibition “Giftec”

The Peres Center has also hosted a roundtable discussion of senior Israeli and Palestinian economists entitled, “Economic Prospects for Israeli-Palestinian Relations”. And so the list goes on.

This is all very positive stuff. So imagine my dismay when I read thias week that “Palestinian Authority Economic Minister Bassem Khoury said he would not hold any further meetings with Israeli Minister Silvan Shalom concerning economic cooperation between the two governments”.

You have got to wonder why. If the two sides are going to get together, this short-sightedness must cease. Go to the industrial park of Atarot in North East Jerusalem and watch peoples working together on the ground. Visit the Wolfson Hospital, which specialises in treating Palestinian infants, and see Palestinian mothers sleeping next to their kids in Tel Aviv…with prayer mats purposely provided.

It is paramount for such confidence building measures to become a two-way methodology. I suggest that it is time for Khoury to ask his own President, Mahmoud Abbas, to establish a Palestinian equivalent of the Peres Center. That could be a major step to breaking down barrier.

Norway, the Palestinians, selling weapons

6 September 2009
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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

The Norwegian government has made an ethical decision. It will no longer include Elbit, a large Israeli defense contractor,  in its investment portfolio. This is because some of Elbit’s products help to maintain Israel’s security barrier, which Norway considers illegal.

On the surface, this all sounds very noble. But scratch just a little bit, and lot of yucky blood quickly oozes out from Oslo’s skin.

To start with, Norway has spent a lot of its own money, directly and indirectly, funding an anti-israel narrative, specifically through aiding NGOs that seek the destruction of Israel. So clearly, Norway’s claims that her financial decision is not designed as a boycott of Israel is less than convincing.

In fact, Norway is only following the thoughts expressed in many other European countries recently. A notable example are the views frequently stated in Westminster by all the main parties. So let’s call in hypocrisy mark no’ 2:

A recent report by Frost & Sullivan has noted how defense spending by Middle Eastern countries has defied the global recession. And guess which states are benefitting from this loose change? Yup, our European friends. To quote a respected analyst, Tom Gross:

Defense spending in the Middle East will exceed $100 billion by 2014. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are spearheading the arms race in the Middle East. Both countries are particularly nervous about the rise of Iran and what they perceive as President Obama’s weak response to Iranian nuclear ambitions.

The report says that Saudi Arabia looks set to spend at least $36 billion annually over the next five years. “The ratio of their defense spending to that of their total GDP is the highest in the world,” it notes, stressing that the ratio was unaffected by the global economic slowdown and fluctuating oil prices.

According to the report, Jordan is eyeing 85 AIM-120C-7 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and 120 C captive air training missiles in a deal estimated at around $130 million. Bahrain is also considering the purchase of 25 AIM-120C-7 missiles.

Separately, RIA Novosti reports that Saudi Arabia is to buy 30 Mi-171B Russian military helicopters. The Saudis have traditionally bought only Western, mainly U.S.-made, military equipment, but have recently expressed an interest in acquiring Russian weaponry, including S-400 air defense systems, T-90 tanks, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, and various types of helicopters.

Anybody seen the barrier that Saudi is building along part of its unofficial borders? Anybody considered how pluralistic these states…are not?

And even if you feel these points are not so relevant, consider this twist. The Economist recently compared where most Arabs have lost their lives in military conflicts. Over a million lives have been destroyed in the past 2 decades, including around 2 thousand Palestinians. I will accept that any life lost is one too many, but to start targeting Israel as “le votre culprit” is a bit…well, stupid.

Over the next few weeks, Iran will publish a large tender for its mobile telephone sector. European companies will be asked to participate. What will Norway’s stance be on this issue?

Palestinian-Israeli economies interlocked

27 August 2009
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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

The weband utube is flooded with calls to boycott Israeli goods. They are frequently racist, masking behind politically correct statements. They are inherently hypocritical.

Do the Palestinians boycott the Israeli economy? Well, we know that extremists like Hamas for years have tried to ensure that Israeli consumer products, especially food items, have no place in Arab shops. Obviously, this kind of ethnicity is morally justifiable, isn’t it.

On the other hand, we know that every day, tens of thousands of Palestinian workers voluntarily enter Israel, primarily as manual labour. Remember, relative to what can be earned in Gaza or in Jenin, they high salaries.

OK, well that may be an economic necessity, but what about trade?

This week, a seminar was held near the Allenby Bridge between the Palestinian and the Israeli business community. Did you know that in the year 2008 alone, the two economies created 20 billion shekels of volume?

Do you know how many jobs that is worth? Do you what that represents in terms of investment for small businesses?

The Netanyahu government is committed to ensuring this trade surges forward. In London, the Israeli Prime Minister stated at a press conference that: –

We have already moved: my government has removed, to be precise, 147 checkpoints and roadblocks. The 14 remaining checkpoints, 12 of them are manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to facilitate movement. I have extended the time of passage on the Allenby Bridge on the Jordan River in order to facilitate movement in and out of the Palestinian territories. I chair a ministerial committee that seeks to remove and has removed roadblocks to economic activity in the West Bank. We’ve moved on the ground.

In parallel, much will be determined by the ability and desire of Palestinian leaders to reign in the terror machines. In the West Bank, there are clear successes here for the short term.

Unfortunately, Hamas has allowed a continuation of shelling, as residents in Zikim, Ashkelon and other Israeli towns can testify this week. Thus, they are ensuring that the passage of trade is minimal at best.

So, next time you hear about calls for a boycott of Israel, ask the proponent why Palestinians do not join in. And then point out a few home truths.

Israel & peace – a green perspective

25 August 2009
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Categories: Israel, Palestinians

Israel’s Prime Minister, Netanyahu, has started a 4 day tour of European cities. The first stop is London, where he will meet with George Mitchell, Obama’s adviser on the Middle East peace process.

So will the European leaders seriously pressure their guest over settlements? From the Israeli perspective, it often seems that they deal with the Palestinian counterparts with kid gloves, rarely demanding similar concessions. How about some Arab recognition of Israel’s right to exist, come the shouts form Jerusalem.

This outlook devolves into satire. As Israelis say, what would have happened if Moses had gone East at Jericho? Then, who would have had the oil?

The cleantech revolution gives Israel a chance to convert those jokes into modern political reality.

According to a new report, Israel’s oil imports in 2008 dropped significantly. In fact, “Israel could cut its oil imports by 20%, saving $1 billion a year at current prices, through energy conservation and the sophisticated use of electricity and fuel in more efficient and cheaper ways.”

Consumption of oil products by Israel and the Palestinian Authority has been falling steadily. Oil consumption was 11.4 million tons in 2008, 2% less than in 2007, and 8% less than in 2003. The report expects this downward trend to continue in the coming years, with the completion of the national natural gas infrastructure and the hook-up of power stations and major industrial plants to the natural gas pipeline.

Now, where Israel leads, what would happen if Western oil guzzlers were to follow? And how would that impact on the agenda for Netanyahu’s European chat show?

Worth a thought.

The Palestinian economy

22 August 2009
1 Comment
Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

Last week, Israel’s ambassador to USA, Michael Oren, authored a telling item in the Wall Street Journal. His opening lines says it all.

Imagine an annual economic growth rate of 7%, declining unemployment, a thriving tourism industry, and a 24% hike in the average daily wage. Where in today’s gloomy global market could one find such gleaming forecasts? Singapore? Brazil? Guess again. The West Bank.

These are stunning stats, which are rarely seen around the global economic scene. They are based on the most recent assessment of the IMF.

Oren continues by differentiating between the West Bank and Gaza, where the latter is ruled by Hamas. In that fertile strip, 40% unemployment is a common number.

Certainly, we must take Oren’s glowing priase of economic success with some perspective. The ambassador gets paid a salary to hide the downside of the stats.

And this latest growth comes in the aftermath of the Palestinian initiated Intifada, when Palestinians paid a heavy social and financial price for their violence. For example, up to the Autumn of the year 2000, around 120,000 workers daily crossed over into Israel, receiving relatively high salaries. Much of that income disappeared for years.

However, Oren is hinting at something else, something far more positive for Palestinians. If this is what can be achieved with even a tiny smattering of reduced terror against Israel, then think what could be attained with a full peace treaty.

If that is the case, we have to ask ourselves why the Palestinian leadership cannot bring itself to negotiate with Israel, openly and properly?

Palestinians deserve better

18 August 2009
3 Comments
Categories: Israel, Palestinians

The Fatah Conference is over. United in its hatred of Israel and divided over any other subject, the result was a sham. Instead of talking about peace, more obstacles were placed in the way of progress.

In the immediate fall out, it is the average Palestinian who will suffer from this display of disunity.

With a great deal of irony, about the only togetherness took place when most delegates resigned quickly after the ballot results were announced. Former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper:-

The forgery in Iran’s recent presidential election was nothing compared to what happened in Fatah……There were behind-the-scenes arrangements that removed some names and added others to the winning list.

It will be interesting to see how President Obama handles President Abbas, who clearly does not possess the flowing confidence of his own party, Fatah; a party which has again reiterated the option of armed struggle against Israel.

Fatah’s stronghold is in the West Bank, having been evicted by Hamas from Gaza. Yet this former Egyptian territory raises its own human rights issues.

Last weekend, Hamas took out and slaughtered a rival political group, linked with Al-Qaida. Highly respected commentator, Tom Gross, reports that:

Hamas forces also stormed a mosque in Rafah on the Egyptian border, where about 100 members of Jund Ansar Allah, or “The Soldiers of the Companions of God,” were holed up. At least 150 Palestinians were injured.

Hamas, which regularly cons Western human rights groups into believing it doesn’t have any money, used a considerable array of weapons, including rocket propelled grenades, to attack the mosque. …

According to the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, an Egyptian child was hit by a stray bullet fired during the exchange, and ten artillery shells also landed on the southern side of the Gaza-Egypt border, ….

This news is of considerable political significance because it shows that Hamas is determined to maintain absolute control over Gaza and allow no dissent whatever (thereby reducing the prospects of reconciliation with Fatah and the possibility that the Palestinians might be unified enough to form an independent state).

That Hamas has little respect for common law is no surprise. Two weeks ago, it commandeered 3 new ambulances, just as they were being delivered to UNRWA. That is several tens of thousands of international tax payers money, donated on behalf of Palestinians, which has been swallowed up into the heart of the Hamas organization.

As I end this piece, I have just recalled that back in April, Israel’s entry for the European Song Contest was entitled “There has to be another way”.

Oh, how the Palestinians deserve so much better

Blow for Palestinian economy

5 August 2009
1 Comment
Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

Fatah, the largest block in the PLO and in the Palestinian Authority, is holding its Sixth General Congress this week in Bethlehem.

General opinion holds that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, will ensure that the discussions take a hard line in tone. The option of armed resistance remains firmly on the table. Even Palestinian schools, responsible for a new generation of peace makers, continue to teach as routine that Israeli cities including Haifa are part of Palestine.

What is disappointing is the lack of state-building. President Obama with European support is actively taking measures to bring this near eternal conflict to an end. In response, Fatah offers a negligible amount of discussion, which deals with creating a functioning economy or implementing administrative reforms.

Bottom line: The corruption and nepotism, for which Fatah was famous for under Chairman Arafat and which led to the Hamas triumph in Gaza, will be protected at all costs.

The Palestinian Prime Minister, Salim Fayyad, is an economist with a strong and hard-earned international reputation. It is through him that much of the hopes of the West are transferred. But as we learn in psychology, such transference is not a guarantee for a new reality. As information from the Congress emerges, it is clear that real power lies outside Fayyad’s spacious office.

The result? For the near future, more political uncertainty, a poor recipe  for economic growth. As for policy measures, there will be no new initiatives to build cheap housing, as has happened previously in the Ramallah region. There are no known initiatives to set up regional development councils. (That is often undertaken by NGOs, who then criticise Israel). There will be no restructuring of the public sector finances, as consistently demanded by the IMF.

The intenational media will continue to receive sensationalist copy. The Palestinian person in the street will continue to receive large amounts of valueless rhetoric. No if that where to be registered in the national accounts, the Palestinian economy would be booming today.

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