'If only the Joooz would give us all their land'
'
Moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is once again
blaming the Joooz for the fact that he and his predecessor chose to invest all their money in terrorism instead of economic development.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has blamed the "Israeli
occupation" for the dire economic situation in the West Bank,
Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.
"The economic situation is really difficult, and the main reason is the Israeli occupation," Abbas told official PA television.
"Israel exploits our resources and lands which increased our economic deficit," he continued.
The
PA president also expressed concern that the Palestinian Authority
would be unable to pay salaries for its employees in November as a
result of the difficult economic situation.
Now where have I heard that before? Maybe if he stopped paying terrorists 6% of his budget, he could at least pay more of his real employees....
On Tuesday, the World Bank issued a report
that said that the Palestinian Gross Domestic Product in the West Bank
could increase by at least 35 percent, $3.4 billion annually, if Israel
lifted its restrictions on Palestinian access and movement in Area C.
“Access
to Area C will go a long way to solving Palestinian economic problems,”
said Mariam Sherman, the outgoing World Bank Country Director for the
Palestinian territories.
“The alternative is bleak. Without the
ability to utilize the potential of Area C, the economic space will
remain fragmented and stunted. Lifting multiple restrictions could
transform the economy and substantially improve prospects for sustained
growth,” she said.
Of course, that assumes that Israel will leave Area C and leave $3.4 billion in annual revenues of industry behind. And it also assumes that the 'Palestinians' will do a better job than they did with those greenhouses in Gaza....
Labels: Abu Mazen, Gaza expulsion, Palestinian economy, World Bank
World Bank doing what 'Palestinian Authority' should do
Only the 'Palestinians' get these kinds of individualized benefits from the 'international community.' Since the 'Palestinian Authority' is too busy spending its budget on salaries for imprisoned terrorists, the World Bank is going to step in and do what every other government in the world does, or is supposed to do:
The World Bank is creating real jobs for 'Palestinians.'
The World Bank wants to help provide 55,000 new part-time job opportunities over
the next five years for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza through an
emerging online phenomenon called microwork.
The sophisticated web-based
assembly lines allow people anywhere in the world to work from home for global
companies by completing micro tasks on the Internet.
The World Bank plans
to hold a microwork pilot study in the Palestinian territories, but no exact
date has been set.
“Palestinian youth are increasingly tech-savvy, so the
potential for IT-based forms of economic engagement, which can cross virtual
borders, can be an exciting leap forward,” said Mariam Sherman, the World Bank
country director for the West Bank and Gaza.
On Wednesday the bank
publicly released a feasibility study, “Microwork for the Palestinian
Territories,” that explored the pros and cons of such global
outsourcing.
It explained that microwork provides mass employment for
people in developing countries, particularly young people and women.
The
jobs can be done anywhere at anytime by people with computers or smart phones,
according to the report.
“Microwork’s unique value proposition is that it
can be performed anywhere at any time across geographical boundaries, using
commonly available computers and Internet connections,” said Siou Chew Kuek, ICT
policy specialist at the World Bank.
“It is particularly relevant to the
Palestinian territories, as it enables local youth and women to access jobs in
the global knowledge economy.”
Microwork by day and terrorists by night (or vice versa). Maybe they can even provide jobs for terrorists in Israeli prisons so that they can increase their income beyond their 'Palestinian Authority' salaries.
What could go wrong?
Labels: martyrs salaries, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian economy, prisoner salaries, World Bank
'Master strategist'
'Palestinian' chief
negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat is calling on the 'Palestinian Authority' to play up the 'Palestine' thing to the hilt, including putting the seal of the 'State of Palestine' (which subsumes all of the current State of Israel and more) on all of its official documents, and attempting to spit in the face of the United States Congress by
seeking membership in all United Nations bodies.
Erekat, in a study published Sunday, accused
Congress and the Israeli government of “waging war” on the Palestinian national
project following the UN vote last November.
He predicted that the “war”
would continue. “The decisions they have taken are only the beginning,” Erekat
said, referring to Israel’s decision to withhold tax and customs revenues, and
threats by Congress to suspend financial aid to the Palestinians.
Erekat
also recommended that the PA leadership prepare a working plan for the
resumption of peace talks with Israel from the point where they ended in
November 2008.
There is no way that anyone in this country is going to agree to
start negotiating from Olmert's suicidal concessions. I don't believe that any Israeli government - even one (God forbid) led by the Left - would agree to such a thing. Even Tzipi Livni criticized Olmert for going too far at the time, because he was trying to save his own skin by becoming the 'hero' who reached an agreement.
He said such talks should be limited to six months, only
during which time Israel would freeze construction in West Bank settlements and
east Jerusalem and release Palestinian prisoners, especially those who were
incarcerated before the signing of the Oslo Accords.
We've frozen construction in the 'West Bank' before, and much as I would hate to see it happen, it's conceivable that enough pressure could be brought on the government to make it happen again. We've also frozen construction in 'east' Jerusalem (de facto) before and I could even see that happening again with a wink and a nod, although there is no way that any Israeli government is going to put any part of Jerusalem into play by making such an agreement explicitly.
But as to releasing 'Palestinian prisoners,' he's living in Never Never Land. What are we going to do after six months? Recapture them when we don't reach a deal?
And then there's the six-month thing. A deadline can be an impetus to finish negotiations when there's are real consequences to both parties if the negotiations aren't concluded. But it has to be a realistic deadline and it has to have consequences for both sides (that's why so many business deals get done at year's end). For example (and I'm not proposing this), if the US were to say, "you guys have x years to work out a deal and if you don't work it out, Israel will never again get a penny in US aid and we will never again propose or support or cajole Israel to allow the existence of a 'Palestinian state,' both sides would have an impetus to compromise and then a deadline might make sense. Of course, this kind of ultimatum would never happen, because other countries (hello, Eurabia) would continue to attempt to force Israel to acquiesce to a 'Palestinian state.'
Erekat said that if
Israel insisted on building in E1 and Givat Hamatos, the Palestinians should
take the matter to the UN Security Council.
“If the effort does not
succeed because of a veto, the case should be taken to the UN General Assembly
to make a decision regarding building settlements in the occupied State of
Palestine,” Erekat recommended.
That would accomplish a lot (not!) - the General Assembly is powerless. Of course, what they could do is to go to the International Criminal Court (if they are ever admitted to it), but then they run the risk that someone raises this little war crime called 'Palestinian terrorism'....
Erekat
disclosed that a special Palestinian legal team was now studying measures needed
to obtain membership in 17 UN agencies, including the International Criminal
Court, the World Health Organization, UNESCO and the World Bank.
Didn't they join UNESCO last year? World Bank? Just what the World Bank needs: Another basket case economy.
What could go wrong?
Labels: E-1, East Jerusalem, International Criminal Court, Judea and Samaria construction, Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian state, Saeb Erekat, World Bank
Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Thursday, July 26.
1) The failure of the world's human rights bureaucracy
Kenneth Anderson asks Why does the UN still exist?(h/t Instapundit)
It does not finally matter what the scandal, the appallingly bad behavior, the failure of management or of execution or of fiscal control happens to be. It can be wholesale mismanagement and corruption through the Oil-for-Food program (does anyone still recall that multi-billion dollar scandal?) and the flight of a senior UN executive to his extradition-free home state.
It might be rape and sexual predation against the young, not only by UN peacekeeping troops trading sex for food but also by UN civilian staff in African conflicts—followed by stern pronouncements of zero tolerance but no actual criminal prosecutions. Or it might be the unveiling of a $23 million mural on the ceiling of the UN Human Rights Council chambers—the main sponsor, Spain, having raided its international development aid budget to help pay for it. It might be the relentless orchestration of reports, statements, declarations, resolutions, and investigations by that same Human Rights Council, beneath its magnificent mural, and its members and various “independent” experts and NGO enablers against a single state: Israel.
Or it could be the utter and disastrous inability of the United Nations to actually get aid in a timely fashion to victims of the 2004 tsunami, as its aid czar held press conferences and sent observers to reconnoiter and finally fell into the usual default activity of blaming the United States. Or—at the largest political levels, looking back across UN history—it might be UN inaction in genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia.
These are points to remember every time the media cites the UN or any of its bodies as an authority on anything. The UN is hopelessly corrupt and ineffective.
So too are many NGOs. But Roger Simon notes one NGO that is doing something useful.
Remember those sanctions the administration is always telling us will bring Iran to its knees and force the mullahs to abandon their nuclear ambitions – yes, those same sanctions that always seem to have loopholes for the Russians, the Chinese, the Europeans, even for American and multi-national companies?
Well, Shurat HaDin – the Israel Law Center that has done yeoman work suing those who aid and abet terrorism – is now challenging one of those companies, global mobile satellite giant Inmarsat PLC, whose guidance systems service Iranian oil tankers and military vessels (!).
I wonder when the New York Times will report on Shurat Hadin instead of the next Amnesty International or B'tselem report condemning Israel for something. Needless to say media interest in international law is highly selective.
2) Unsustainable
The AP reports World Bank Says Palestinian Economy Unsustainable:
The study's author, John Nasir, said the Palestinian Authority has made steady progress toward establishing a future state, "but the economy is currently not strong enough to support such a state."
"Economic sustainability cannot be based on foreign aid, so it is critical for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to increase trade and spur private sector growth," he added.
The bank noted that Israeli restrictions remain the biggest impediment to investing, creating high uncertainty and risk.
Of course the World Bank would blame it on Israel. A more likely explanation is that the foreign aid to the Palestinians, who have been one of the highest per capita recipients of foreign aid in the world, has distorted their economy and discouraged private investment. (Not to mention that there's evidence that foreign aid has encouraged terrorism rather than coexistence.)
The article concludes:
The World Bank's assessment contradicts that of the International Monetary Fund, which last year said Palestinian financial institutions were ready for statehood.
That suggests that the IMF's conclusion was not based on evidence but on political considerations as Mahmoud Abbas sought statehood in the UN.
Also the New York Times reports Gaza: Fears of Economic Isolation:
The diplomat, Robert H. Serry, special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the Security Council that the Palestinian Authority “faces an acute challenge in maintaining its solvency” and noted its late payment of government salaries. Mr. Serry also said that during a visit this month to Gaza, which is run by the anti-Israeli militant group Hamas, he was “struck by the fragility and unsustainability of the present situation.”
Serry, of course, is silent on the continued attacks on southern Israel from Gaza ( according to the latest figures from the IDF, there have 431 rockets during 2012.) Somehow Hamas despite its "isolation" is able to maintain a steady flow of ordnance into Gaza.
3) A pro-Israel New York Times op-ed!
It's a rarity these days, but the New York Times published an op-ed, Israel's settlers are here to stay by Dany Dayan, that can fairly be called "pro-Israel."
While the status quo is not anyone’s ideal, it is immeasurably better than any other feasible alternative. And there is room for improvement. Checkpoints are a necessity only if terror exists; otherwise, there should be full freedom of movement. And the fact that the great-grandchildren of the original Palestinian refugees still live in squalid camps after 64 years is a disgrace that should be corrected by improving their living conditions.
Yossi Beilin, a left-wing former Israeli minister, wrote a telling article a few months ago. A veteran American diplomat touring the area had told Mr. Beilin he’d left frightened because he found everyone — Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — content with the current situation. Mr. Beilin finds this widespread satisfaction disturbing, too.
I think it is wonderful news. If the international community relinquished its vain attempts to attain the unattainable two-state solution, and replaced them with intense efforts to improve and maintain the current reality on the ground, it would be even better. The settlements of Judea and Samaria are not the problem — they are part of the solution.
Of course, I wouldn't be surprised to see an editorial tomorrow citing this op-ed as a sign that settlements (Dayan boasts that soon 400,000 Jews will be living in Judea and Samaria) continue to be the single biggest obstacle to peace.
4) More on Romney's VFW speech
David French, an admitted Romney partisan writes in Mitt Romney Understands the Need for American Strength for the National Review:
This is exactly right. As we face an unthinking, draconian sequestration of our military budget, it’s worth asking: When has America ever suffered because of an excess in military strength? How many times have we suffered because of weakness?
Throughout our history we’ve paid a bloody price for military weakness. Military weakness has meant a White House burned, a secessionist movement that fed off early victories over ill-prepared troops, horrifying carnage in World War I as we spent the better part of a year ramping up our military to aid allies on the brink of defeat, months of Japanese victories following Pearl Harbor culminating in the Bataan Death March, and panicked retreats marking the beginning of the Korean War. How many times do we have to learn the same lessons?
In the present conflict, al-Qaeda exploited weakness in our will (it’s still astounding that we had to use Pakistani armor to help rescue American forces trapped in Mogadishu and that direct terrorist attacks resulted only in ineffectual volleys of cruise missiles) to build a terrorist sub-state in the middle of Afghanistan, and weakness in the face of 33 years of Iranian hostility has brought a terrorist state to the brink of nuclear capability.
Walter Russell Mead was more restrained in his analysis.
It was not a speech that will change the election or define an era. No gushing acolytes pretending to be journalists will compare the governor to Abraham Lincoln, FDR and Daniel Webster combined. No phrases like “iron curtain”, “ask not what you can do for your country,” or “tear down that wall” rang through it.
It was a little like Governor Romney himself: deeply earnest, Wonder Bread rather than pumpernickel or rye, flat when it tried to soar, seemingly plainspoken and yet somehow opaque, at its most cautious when sounding most bold. It was in places so bland and vague that one began to despair of it, yet behind the smoke and mirrors there is an impression of something solid, if hard to see. It seemed precisely calibrated and effectively delivered from a political point of view: aiming at opening a number of lines of attack on the Obama administration without offering many targets for return fire.
Mead concluded:
If the Romney campaign hoped to showcase some potentially effective attack points in the campaign against the incumbent, this was a successful speech. If it hoped to establish the governor as a world statesman with a coherent vision of where he wants to lead the nation, it was, at best, a first effort.
2012 is not a foreign policy election today, and barring dramatic developments overseas before Election Day, it won’t turn into one. But a successful presidential candidate needs to impress voters as someone to whom they can entrust their security in a dangerous world. Governor Romney will have to come back to the state of the world before November, and he will have to say more about it than he did in Reno.
Labels: Campaign 2012, Middle East Media Sampler, Mitt Romney, Palestinian Authority, revenants, Shurat HaDin, Soccer Dad, United Nations, World Bank
Ready for 'statehood'?
You will recall that about ten weeks ago, the World Bank told us that the 'Palestinian Authority' is not ready for 'statehood,' while the International Monetary Fund told us that the 'Palestinian Authority'
was ready. The International Monetary Fund may want to rethink that issue. If 'Palestine' were to become a state tomorrow, it would have no economy, and would be totally dependent upon the generosity of the nations of the World. Most of the World has apparently tired of
financially supporting the 'Palestinians' with handouts.
The Palestinian Authority is facing a financial crisis because funds pledged by donor nations are not arriving on time, Prime Minister of the West Bank government Salam Fayyad said Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference with Japan's representative to the Palestinian Authority, Fayyad said the slow delivery of promised aid was putting pressure on the government.
"The financial crisis continues until now, to varying degrees, and has continued alongside the work of the Palestinian Authority since mid-2010," Fayyad warned, saying the government was facing a serious shortfall.
"We need to see an acceleration in the receipt of aid that has been committed," he added, stressing that the Palestinians "are not asking for anything more than what we need."
Maybe Fayyad needs to stop the unproductive payments to terrorists in Israeli jails and consider building an economy that can sustain itself. Of course, since Fayyad is about to be fired anyway, he may not be very interested in building an economy for the long term, and his successor will be even less likely of being capable of doing so.
What could go wrong?
Labels: International Monetary Fund, Palestinian economy, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, World Bank
Ready for prime time?
Are the 'Palestinians' ready for prime time? Are they ready to run a 'state' of their own? The
World Bank doesn't think so.
Economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is largely driven by donor donations and is not likely to be sustainable, the World Bank said on Thursday.
The Palestinian Authority should focus on developing its trade regime and infrastructure and improving the employability of the labor force to create growth that can be maintained, the organization said in a report to donor countries. It also said that industry won’t increase significantly as long as Israeli limitations on movement are in place. The report said that according to initial estimates based on labor surveys, the Palestinian economy expanded 9.3 percent last year.
“The growth is mostly confined to the non-tradable sector and reflects the importance of donor aid in driving the Palestinian economy -- though recent easing of restrictions by the government of Israel has probably had a positive impact as well,” the World Bank said in its report.
If only they had an export other than terror....
But fear not: The
International Monetary Fund believes there's no problem with a 'Palestinian state' going live (Hat Tip:
Shy Guy).
Palestinian financial institutions are ready for statehood, an International Monetary Fund report praising Palestinian fiscal reform said Tuesday.
"The PA is now able to conduct the sound economic policies expected of a future well-functioning Palestinian state,'' the report said.
...
The Palestine Monetary Authority now fulfills the core functions of a central bank in terms of supervision and regulation, the report said.
It lauded increased fiscal transparency and discipline of Palestinian institutions.
Can you have a state without a functioning economy? I doubt it.
Labels: International Monetary Fund, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, World Bank
