Kushner has (k) a plan for the Palestinians | Middle East | '
136 pages include the Middle East Economic Plan, created under the leadership of the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, and now published. "Peace to Prosperity" is the name of the document that looks like a glossy magazine. Images of laughing farmers and children passing schools formerly funded by USAID grace his pages. These are images of projects that had to be ended as the US government massively cut funding for USAID in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Anyone can retrieve the economic plan on the Internet, but at the long-announced economic workshop in Bahrain Manama Kushner wants to officially introduce the economic part of the so-called "Century Deals". The political part should follow. Only when, nobody knows. However, this is only expected after Israel is elected in September and a new government is in Jerusalem.
96 pages summarize programs, projects and statistics. 40 pages describe the project "Peace to Prosperity" – divided into three chapters. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said at a meeting of the Arab League that the plan consisted solely of "abstract promises."
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1. Unleash the economic potential
The corruption is to be combated. The West Bank and Gaza Strip will gain access to regional and global markets, and a rail link will link the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But how exactly what has not happened for decades should be done exactly is not part of the plan. There is also talk of strengthening the private sector and introducing mobile phone networks 4G, LTE and 5G. 5G is not even in the US yet; It is only since the beginning of 2018 that there is 3G in the West Bank because the Israeli government granted permission after many years of waiting. According to Kushner's vision, Gaza and the West Bank could benefit from "Dubai and Singapore's strategic location" and become a regional financial center. In Dubai and Singapore, however, there are not airports, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Instead, according to the plan, the airports in neighboring Lebanon and Jordan will be expanded.
2. Strengthen the Palestinian people
The plan also addresses the issue of education: online education platforms and international exchange are promised. Whether this also the travel restrictions and the freedom of movement of the Palestinians would be facilitated, remains open. There are generations of young people who have never been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip. In cultural institutions should be invested, the health sector should be brought up to scratch. But here, too, there is no indication as to how exactly the implementation should take place. In general, many things remain very vague.
3. Strengthening the Palestinian leadership
The final part of the Middle East Economic Plan is devoted to promoting the Palestinian leadership. This should receive support so that it can in turn strengthen the private sector. Exports are to rise and the dependence of the Palestinians on other donors should also be reduced.
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Money from others
To achieve its goals, the United States promotes $ 50 billion in investment at the Manama conference, worth $ 44 billion over the next decade. In Bahrain, allied with the US Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are expected. Representatives from Egypt, Jordan and Morocco are also expected to participate, but not Lebanon or Iraq. The Israeli government was not invited. The Palestinian Authority boycotted the meeting.
Many people consider that only Arab states were invited as an attempt to get the money, especially from the rich Gulf States. Tarek Baconi, analyst at the Brussels-based Crisis Group. The US would propose projects in the business plan that they would once have promoted themselves. "But it seems they want to be completely out of some form of financing or helping the Palestinians – at least rhetorically," he said in a ‘ interview. The Gulf states may consider possible Palestinian support to further normalize their relationship with Israel and form a united front against Iran, Baconi said.
Rejection from the Arab world
But even if the money should be promised: Both the Palestinian leadership and the people reject the plan presented by Kushner. Mounir el-Jagoub, spokesman for the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas, called the plan an attempt to "kill the political aspirations of the Palestinian people" through the money of rich Arab states. Although the economic plan of Jared Kushner is likely to take effect only when there is a peace plan, it now seems clear that a separate Palestinian state is not planned for it. US government officials have already leaked out that Kushner threw overboard the two-state solution accepted by numerous states worldwide, which gives the Palestinians their own state in addition to Israel.
And even on the 136 pages of the Kushner Plan, not once is one of the words "Palestinian state", "Palestine" or "occupation" to read. Israel is also mentioned only in connection with border crossings or economic cooperation. The political circumstances are left out. That's also why Ilan Goldberg, Security Director Middle East at the Center for New American Security (CNAS) in Washington calls the plan on Twitter an "imaginary scenario" – "a fictitious scenario". Because still there is no peace.
Muriel Asseburg from the German Science and Politics Foundation (SWP) also critically examines the goals of the Trump administration: "The main obstacles to economic development in the Palestinian territories are not addressed." Neither the occupation and the restrictions associated with it, nor the blockade of the Gaza Strip nor the Palestinian division. And nowhere would there be anything like the "one-sided economic dependence of the Palestinians on Israel, as enshrined in the 1994 Paris Protocol."
"Kushner plan will not fly"
The US government's Middle East peace plan is also widely rejected by the Palestinian population – in Ramallah, people were protesting in the streets. The project received sharp criticism in particular for the fact that it did not provide a political solution, but primarily focused on economic development. "The sequence that follows economic recovery with peace is unrealistic," said Palestinian Minister of Finance Schukri Bischara.
It is undisputed that the Palestinians urgently need money, but above all, according to President Abbas, they want a political solution. Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesman of the SPD parliamentary group, also sees it that way. "The resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires consideration of the legitimate concerns of all actors – including a Palestinian state of their own – the idea that the Palestinians will bid against cash for this idea is frighteningly naive and doomed to failure from the outset." Therefore, the Kushner plan will not "fly", according to Schmid: "'The mountain blew and gave birth to a mouse' – that's the summary of what was announced for months and published in parts this weekend."
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