Kerry’s four billion dollar lure
US Secretary of State John Kerry $ 4 billion development plan to revitalize the Palestinian economy is as daring as it is fanciful. Since he took office last February, Kerry has made the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians a centerpiece of his foreign policy endeavors. He has spent more time on this thorny issue than his predecessor did in more than four years. He has visited Israel and the Palestinian territories four times already and has spent hours discussing ways to kick-start negotiations, stalled since December 2008.
Speaking on the last day of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which was held on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan this week, Kerry told his audience, which included Israeli President Shimon Peres and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas that his plan will not be a substitute for a political solution. Kerry said once implemented the initiative could increase the Palestinian GDP by 50 percent over three years and cut unemployment by twothirds, to 8 percent down from 21 percent. He added that the plan has the support of Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kerry urged both parties to negotiate saying that “the absence of peace is in fact perpetual war, even if it’s low intensity.”
In reality the economic initiative is the biggest “carrot” to be thrown to the Palestinians for many years. “The plan for the Palestinian economy is bigger and bolder and more ambitious than anything proposed since Oslo more than 20 years ago,” Kerry said. But the Palestinians had heard this before.
While Kerry insists that the program will not replace a political process to reach a final-status agreement on a twostate solution, one cannot help but think of Netanyahu’s own proposal to give the Palestinians in the West Bank economic peace rather than full independence. Even before he was elected as Prime Minister, Netanyahu had insisted that the peace process needs to focus on economic issues and not political disagreements. In late 2008, Netanyahu, then Likud Party chairman, stated that “instead of talking about contentious issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the first step to a lasting peace needs to be the fostering of the Palestinians’ economic situation.”
After he formed his coalition government in 2009, Netanyahu’s aides said the economic peace initiative was not implemented because senior Palestinian officials refused to cooperate with the government. The Quartet’s special envoy, Tony Blair, was to be the main interlocutor between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) on economic issues. Palestinians had expressed fears that if they cooperated with Israel on economic peace, Israel will then avoid the political process. It is interesting that Kerry’s latest plan also sees Blair as heading the economic initiative.
If the Palestinians had rejected Netanyahu’s economic peace offer back in 2009, why should accept a modified version of it now? So far Kerry has shown that he has moved closer to adopting Netanyahu’s stand on peace with the Palestinians. The Israeli Prime Minister insists that there should be no Palestinian preconditions before the resumption of negotiations and Kerry now agrees. Israel has resisted US and Palestinian pressures to halt settlement activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Today Kerry seldom mentions the settlements as an obstacle nor is he asking for a short suspension of building activities.
Last month Arab foreign ministers agreed in Washington to modify the Arab Peace Initiative (API) so that it allows for land swaps between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel welcomed the announcement but offered nothing in return. Speaking at the WEF, Abbas urged Israel to accept the API, but warned that the Palestinians would not accept the idea of temporary borders or an interim solution, promoted by the Netanyahu government. Abbas said Israel wants to sideline the issue refugees and keep it outside future negotiations. The multibillion economic program is an important incentive for the Palestinians, but it would be foolish to believe that it could be used to lure the PA to open-ended negotiations with Israel at a time when more West Bank land is being expropriated. In reality one cannot separate economic peace from a political peace. In fact the latter should remain the focus of all parties concerned.
Kerry and Netanyahu may not see eye to eye on all issues, but both believe the Palestinians and Abbas are vulnerable enough to cave under pressure. With the Syrian crisis raging on and Arab Spring countries engaged in domestic issues, little or no attention is being given to the Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians are on their own, and Kerry is the only person holding the key to a possible peace settlement. The economic initiative would be a great gesture to the Palestinians if it followed an historic agreement that would give birth to an independent Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders. After decades of injustice and brutal occupation they deserve to be helped in rebuilding their economy. But under present circumstances and after 20 years of failed promises, the gesture is no more than a decoy to get the Palestinians to submit to Netanyahu’s vision of a peace settlement. Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in
Amman.