Layla Kaiksow and Reema AbuShaheen explain no amount of investment dollars can change the painful Israeli-made facts on the ground for Palestinian manufacturers and entrepreneurs. “Economic development without statehood has gotten us to this point, and that point is nowhere.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s main opposition in the the upcoming Israeli elections responded to his call to annex the West Bank by saying they had the idea first. Between the support of the Trump administration, and Israeli political consensus, and there is little standing in the way of annexation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he would annex all Israeli settlements, the Jordan Valley, and the northern Dead Sea area of the occupied West Bank if he wins Israel’s general elections next week.
Israeli peace activist Angela Godfrey-Goldstein writes an open letter to the president’s son-in-law: “Jared Kushner, maybe you believe you’re supporting Israel with your positions, statements and actions? For those of us who for many decades have fought for peace, nothing could be more mistaken.”
Jared Kushner’s ‘Peace to Prosperity’ economic plan mirrors those that have been presented from the Oslo period onwards. So why is Palestinian leadership so resistant to, and outraged by, this particular plan? David Joseph Deutch says it is because “one avenue claimed to lead to liberation, while lining the pockets of a PNA connected elite. The other promises perpetual occupation, with peace dividends for international investors.”
The absurdity of the Trump economic plan is that it tries to fix the Palestinian economy while completely ignoring the primary reason the Palestinian economy is failing — the occupation.
After White House officials joined a grotesque settlers’ celebration in occupied Jerusalem, Zionists have raised an issue rarely raised in the U.S.: Why are there so many religious Zionist Jews on the Trump negotiation team? Palestinians feel “under assault” and “surrounded” by Trump’s team, says Yaakov Katz, editor of the Jerusalem Post.
Donald Trump’s supposed “deal of the century”, offering the Palestinians economic bribes in return for political submission, is the endgame of western peace-making, the real goal of which has been failure, not success.
What if the Palestinians were to exploit the opportunity provided by Kushner’s plan to build Palestinian society as an important step on the way to developing the strength to secure political rights and freedom in one secular state? James Zogby writes. History shows that when people live in economic despair, they are less inclined to demand political rights.
Even Christine Lagarde of the IMF questioned the effectiveness of Jared Kushner’s proposal for $50 billion investment in Palestinian prosperity, saying without a political solution to the Palestinian issue, investments will not succeed. Her skepticism was widely shared.