Israel Matzav

Sky News' Tim Marshall has an epiphany

Sky News' Tim Marshall has just discovered that all those luxury hotels and restaurants in Ramallah and Gaza are being paid for by your tax money and mine.

Even if the Palestinians declare full statehood in September they would not be truly independent, not only because of the continuing Israeli occupation, checkpoints, lack of freedom of movement of goods etc, but also because Palestine is addicted to aid and as long as you are addicted you are in thrall to your supplier.

The billions that pour in here mean the Palestinian Authority does not need to try very hard to deliver the services expected by voters, it also stifles the private sector, inflates wages and causes an internal 'brain drain'.

The restaurant I went to in Ramallah had a line of expensive cars outside and ranks of NGO workers picking their way through an expensive menu inside. The NGOs do fine work alleviating suffering, helping projects with expertise etc, but they also recruit the best of the local talent and take advantage of their charitable status to get tax breaks.

No Palestinian business can compete with NGOs which routinely triple what a local firm would pay. Many NGOs fork out 'danger money' and even 'hardship payments' to both local and international staff which further undermines the local private businesses. So the NGOs get the brightest and the highest paid, and the private firms get the rest but without the tax exemptions.

“Palestine is the best-kept secret in the aid industry,” a medical NGO worker recently told This Week In Palestine, “People need field experience and Palestine sounds cool and dangerous because it can be described as a war zone, but in reality it’s quite safe and has all the comforts that internationals want.'

Marshall even got the fact that 'Palestinians' are different from all other refugees around the world because they can bequeath their 'refugee' status to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. It's almost like he's been reading Israel Matzav or something. I wonder how long he'll last at Sky....

Read the whole thing.

Labels: European foreign aid, human rights NGO's, Palestinian refugees, Ramallah, UNRWA, US foreign aid

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:30 PM