Israel still pitching economics, not politics, to Palestinians
An Israeli politician has an economic development plan that he says is compatible with the one proposed by the United States, which the Palestinian Authority has already rejected.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has made it clear it's not interested in economic "solutions" to the Palestinian cause without political change. Still, an Israeli politician is proposing yet another economic plan.
Israel Hayom newspaper reported June 24 that Likud party lawmaker and former Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has a plan designed to improve the economic situation in the West Bank, focusing on Area C, which is under Israeli control. The proposal is seen as complementary to US President Donald Trump’s controversial Mideast plan, which asserts that economic prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians can be achieved through cooperation.
The newspaper said Barkat, a Knesset member, devised this plan in collaboration with Michael Porter, an international expert on business management at Harvard University.
After touring the West Bank to learn more about joint industrial areas there, the two came to the conclusion that 12 industrial areas should be built, employing more than 200,000 Palestinian workers. Some 30,000 Palestinians are already employed in Area C, half of them in industrial areas and the remainder in Israeli settlements. Area C constitutes 60% of the West Bank and is home to more than 400,000 Israelis and about 300,000 Palestinians.
