Palestinians' Donors Conference Calls For "Further Efforts"

from The World Bank

“A conference in Paris of donors to the Palestinian Authority called on donors, Palestinians and Israelis to make ‘further efforts’ to boost the Palestinian economy.

The co-Chairs of the conference, Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, said in a statement: ‘The total amount of aids pledged in Paris has now reached $7.7 billion’ compared to the $7.4 billion announced December 17 after the Paris conference.

But ‘while recognizing there has been some improvement in the Palestinian economy following the Paris Conference’, the co-Chairs noted that further efforts by all parties are required. The situation in Gaza is a source of great economic and humanitarian preoccupation. …” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

AP reports that “…They also encouraged donors who are still firming up their support to give some to security projects for financing equipment, infrastructure, and training of personnel, according to the statement. …The money is for budgetary support, development projects and humanitarian assistance by aid groups, and it comes in support of a plan laid out by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ government. …” [The Associated Press/Factiva]

In additional Palestinians related news, AP notes that “International agencies on Tuesday asked donor countries for $462 million in aid to the Palestinians for 2008, to counter rising poverty and the closure of Gaza by Israel and Egypt.

The appeal came from UN aid agencies and dozens of non-governmental organizations. If the money is granted, the Palestinians would become the third largest recipient of such aid after Sudan and Congo, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. … The UN said most of the aid in 2008 would be used for food distribution and job creation. …”

Agencies seek $462m for territories

from the Jerusalem Post

By JUDY SIEGEL AND AP

International agencies asked donor countries on Tuesday for $462 million in aid to the Palestinians for 2008, to counter rising poverty and the closure of Gaza by Israel and Egypt.

The appeal came from UN aid agencies and dozens of nongovernmental organizations. If the money is granted, the Palestinians would become the third largest recipient of such aid after Sudan and Congo, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In December, dozens of donor countries and international organizations pledged $7.7 billion in aid to the Palestinians over three years. Some would go to the Palestinian Authority, some to development projects and some to international agencies. The money requested Tuesday would come out of the December pledges, but it remains unclear whether the goal will be met.

UN officials said their appeal was realistic, but would barely make a dent in rising poverty and unemployment, especially in Gaza.

"This is like a painkiller in a drip feed to a man suffering years with a sick body," said Filippo Grandi, deputy commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency.

On Monday, Grandi's agency and the World Food Program said they would have to suspend food distribution to hundreds of thousands of Gazans by the end of the week for lack of truck fuel, if the closure continues. On Tuesday, Israel delivered fuel for Gaza's sole power plant, partially lifting the blockade.

The UN said most of the aid in 2008 would be used for food distribution and job creation. The UN, citing figures from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, said 79 percent of Gaza's estimated 1.5 million residents lived in poverty, and most relied on food aid.

UN officials said West Bank residents were also suffering, but to a lesser extent.

Almost half the Palestinians there live in poverty, Grandi said.

Also Tuesday, the International Red Cross issued a dire warning on the state of basic services in the Gaza Strip, calling on Israel to lift the blockade imposed on Thursday in response to Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on western Negev communities.

The agency said a shipment would be allowed into Gaza later Tuesday, but that aid needed to be allowed into the Strip on a regular basis to prevent a complete collapse of health and sanitation services.

"Deliveries of essential humanitarian goods must be secured in the long run to prevent more hardship and to avoid the collapse of the already fragile infrastructure," said Dorothea Krimitsas, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Krimitsas said the situation was precarious, with Gaza's hospitals pooling their fuel so that life-saving services could be maintained, such as surgery and intensive care units.

Medical supplies, however, were running out and health staff were having problems getting to work because transportation had become more difficult, Krimitsas told reporters.

"There is no functioning central heating in the hospitals," she added.

Dr. Margaret Chan, secretary-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), stated Tuesday that it is "concerned about the health situation in and around Gaza and the suffering this has caused for civilian populations in the area."

Chan also warned the frequent electricity cuts and the limited power available to run hospital generators have disrupted the functioning of intensive care units, operating theaters and emergency rooms.

"In the central pharmacy, power shortages have interrupted refrigeration of perishable medical supplies, including vaccines," the WHO statement read. "WHO consignments of essential medicines and consumables have recently been delayed at the border."

Jerusalem and Washington bring Palestinians to the brink of starvation

from URUK Net

Jean Shaoul, WSWS

The House of Commons International Development Committee has recently published a report of the findings of its visit to Israel and Palestine.

It paints a devastating picture of the impact of the economic sanctions imposed against the Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority (PA) by the United States and the other major powers, including Britain. In so doing, it demonstrates the collusion of the whole of Europe and of the United Nations with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and its brutal suppression of the Palestinians.

The electoral victory of Hamas—branded by the US as a terrorist organisation for its militant opposition to Israel—led, on the insistence of the US and Israel, to the economic boycott and isolation of the PA.

Israel illegally withheld the tax and customs it collects on behalf of the PA, US$60 million a month or approximately 50 percent of the PA’s monthly revenues, while the Quartet, the US, European Union, Russia and the UN, cut off all direct aid to the PA, depriving it of a further 25 percent of its budget.

Most of the PA’s money is spent on the payment of salaries to its employees, the Palestinian public sector, including doctors, teachers and officials. It is also the "financier of last resort" for Palestinian utilities and public institutions, which can no longer pay their creditors as the international banks have withdrawn credit and other facilities in part because they fear anti-terrorism litigation from the US.

The PA’s own tax revenues have plummeted as a result of the increase in unemployment and poverty. The combined effect has been to bring the Palestinian economy to a halt and its people to the brink of starvation.

The report’s findings, the result of both a visit to Israel/Palestine and data provided by various aid agencies, are shocking.

* Real GDP declined by 9 percent in the first half of 2006 and was predicted to fall by 27 percent by the end of 2006, with personal income falling by 30 percent.

* 160,000 public sector workers have not been paid since March 2006, affecting 25 percent of the population.

* Their coping strategies include: postponing paying bills (83.5 percent), living on past savings (26.3 percent), selling jewellery (29.6 percent) and reducing consumption of fresh meat (88.6 percent). Fully 65 percent are reliant on informal borrowing just to subsist.

* 70 percent of the Gazan workforce is without work or pay.

* 51 percent of the Palestinians now depend on food assistance, a 14 percent increase on last year.

* Malnutrition rates in 2004 were as bad as parts of sub-Saharan Africa. It is the main public health problem, with 37.9 percent of children under five and 31.1. percent of women of child bearing age being anaemic. Twenty-two percent of under-fives are deficient in vitamin A and 20 percent are deficient in iodine.

* Infant mortality is 25.2 per 1,000 live births, while under-five mortality is 29.1 per 1,000 live births.

* Hospital fees are unaffordable to most Palestinians. The effect of the closures imposed by Israel, non-payment of salaries and subsequent strikes by staff have interrupted the supply of medication and equipment. This has drastically reduced access to hospitals and healthcare.

* While the average number of births in Hebron is about 600, last September, just 100 babies were delivered in public hospitals, with a further 200 traced to private or NGO hospitals. Three hundred could not be traced and were assumed to be home deliveries, most without access to trained midwives.

* 25 percent of Gaza’s residents do not have sufficient access to water.

* The bombing of Gaza’s power plant by Israel during the summer offensive has further restricted access to water, causing problems for the hospitals and an increase in diarrhoea, particularly in children under three.

* Palestinians consume an average of 83 cubic metres of water per person per year, compared with Israeli consumption of 333 cubic metres and settler consumption of 1,450. Settlements on hilltops often drain their waste water into the valleys below, contaminating the Palestinians’ water supplies.

* Only 7.3 percent of West Bank land is irrigated compared with 50 percent of comparable Israeli land.

* 64 percent of Palestinians fell below the poverty line in 2006, but this figure rises to 78 percent in Gaza. This has grown from 20 percent in 1998 and 54 percent in 2005.

* In the first half of 2006, a massive 1,069,200 people had consumption levels below the deep poverty line, an increase of 418,400 in just six months. They had an average daily consumption equivalent to about US$1.66 per person per day, which is below the accepted level of consumption of US$2.10 needed to meet basic needs.

* Real per capita consumption had fallen by 12 percent in 2006, with food consumption down by 8 percent.

Faced with this appalling humanitarian crisis, in May 2006 the UN took the unprecedented step of upping its appeal for humanitarian aid from US$215 million to $384 million. The 2007 appeal will be for about $450 million.

The report states that such high levels of assistance far exceed per capita levels in many poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa and are not sustainable in the long run. But without a settlement of the conflict, such aid will be vital.

These conditions are not simply the result of the economic sanctions imposed after the election of Hamas, but part of an ongoing deterioration in living standards following the intifada provoked by then Likud leader Ariel Sharon to scupper any chance of a resolution to the Israel/Palestine conflict in September 2000.

Israel’s brutal suppression of the uprising was accompanied by curfews and restrictions on movements, which include road blocks, border crossings, mounds, trenches, flying checkpoints and a separate system of underground passes for the Palestinians, and the construction of the Security Wall. The report labelled these "discriminatory," saying, "Palestinians are being treated as second class citizens in their own country."

These, together with the network of settlements and their supporting infrastructure, have suffocated trade and prevented the Palestinians from accessing services.

Manufacturing has declined. Foreign and local investment has all but ceased, despite labour productivity levels 40 percent higher than for other workers in the region. Israel has been able to benefit—without sanctions from Brussels—from its trade relations with the EU while depriving the Palestinians of similar benefits.

International aid has been running at the rate of $300 per capita or approximately $1 billion per year since 2000, reflecting the catastrophic decline in the Palestinian economy and living standards.

As the report states, "Above all, they [the restrictions] are destroying the Palestinian economy and creating widespread poverty."

As might be expected of a report compiled by British parliamentarians, the response to its own findings is to meekly question the degree to which the restrictions, justified in the name of "security," served their stated purpose. But its findings would suggest to any objective reader that the regime of sanctions and other restrictions imposed by Israel with the backing of the US and Europe constitute a deliberate attempt to starve the Palestinians into submission, killing as many as possible while forcing many more into exile: a form of ethnic cleansing by economic means.

Aid rose in 2006 despite embargo Palestinians get help directly

from The Boston Globe

By Steven Erlanger, New York Times News Service

JERUSALEM -- Despite the international embargo on aid to the Palestinian Authority since Hamas came to power a year ago, significantly more aid was delivered to the Palestinians in 2006 than in 2005, according to official figures from the United Nations, United States, European Union, and International Monetary Fund.

Instead of going to the Palestinian Authority, most of the money was given directly to individuals or through independent agencies like the World Food Program.

The IMF and the UN say that the Palestinians received $1.2 billion in aid and budgetary support in 2006, about $300 per capita, compared with $1 billion in 2005.

While the United States and the EU have led the boycott, they too provided more aid to the Palestinians in 2006 than 2005. Washington increased its aid to the UN refugee agency for Palestinians to $468 million in 2006, from $400 million in 2005.

The EU and its member states alone are subsidizing 1 million people in the West Bank and Gaza, a quarter of the population, as part of their effort to avoid creating a catastrophe from the embargo.

One side effect of the redirected aid, some officials said, is that while starvation has been avoided, institutions are withering and a culture of dependence is expanding.

"These numbers are quite stunning, given the relatively small size of the population of the Palestinian territory," said Alexander Costy, head of coordination for Alvaro de Soto, the UN special Middle East envoy.

He added: "What we do know for sure is that Palestinians, and their economy and society, are becoming increasingly dependent on humanitarian handouts, and this dependency is growing fast. For a state in the making, I think this was a step backwards in 2006 and a cause for alarm."

The United States, Europe, and Israel imposed their boycott because Hamas supports terrorism and refuses to recognize Israel, renounce violence, or honor existing Palestinian-Israeli agreements. The unstated aim has been to build enough disaffection among Palestinians that they would drive Hamas from power and replace it with Fatah.

Despite all the aid, the economy, hampered by security restrictions put on Palestinian travel and exports and fierce Palestinian infighting between Hamas and Fatah, continued to show signs of collapse. The Palestinian gross domestic product dropped by 6.6 percent in 2006, poverty rose by 30 percent, and unemployment was over 30 percent.

Numerous aid officials think that the current aid structure for the Palestinians is highly inefficient and undesirable since it is not going to development or training.

UK MP study opposes Hamas boycott

from The Jerusalem Post

By JONNY PAUL

In a parliamentary report published on Wednesday, the International Development Committee of the British Parliament questioned the international community's decision to isolate Hamas, which they referred to as "a democratically elected government"

"We understand the reasons for this decision but doubt whether it is in fact the most effective response. Indeed, the withholding of revenues by Israel and the boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority by existing donors has led the Hamas government increasingly to look elsewhere for financial support. As a result, Hamas now has closer links to governments like that of Iran than it had two years ago."

The report, entitled Development, Assistance and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, recommends that Western governments open dialogue with Hamas to further the peace process: "We believe that the international community is right to place pressure on Hamas to change those policies which militate against a peace process. However, this would best be achieved through dialogue and engagement, rather than isolation."

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, MP Malcolm Bruce, chairman of the International Development Committee, said: "What we have said is that the consequences of the withholding of funding, with restrictions of action and movement, led poverty to rocket up. Although aid has increased, the situation has got worse."

The study also concluded that despite receiving more humanitarian assistance per capita than anywhere else in the world, the situation for people living in the Palestinian Authority is worse than it was in 2004, and could set back the peace process and lead to further violence.

According to the report, the Hamas election victory in January 2006 prompted foreign governments to cut donations to the Palestinian Authority. The combined effect of the withholding of revenues and budget support has placed the Palestinian Authority under severe fiscal pressure. It has increased poverty and hardship among most Palestinians with two-thirds living below the poverty line and salaries of public servants not paid since March.

"Many, including schoolteachers and health workers, have been on strike and public services, particularly health services, are in a state of near collapse," the report says.

The committee maintains that withholding funding to the authority in the region was counter-productive, it says it "doubts whether this is a development the international community would have intended." As a result, the report contends that international community is in danger of preventing the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

It put the onus on Israel saying: "While the end of occupation will provide the best opportunity for development, ways must be found now to influence the actions of the government of Israel and to create in the territories a government capable of self-rule and peace with its neighbor. The current approach of waiting for something to turn up militates against this."

"Under conditions of occupation, their development prospects are being eroded largely by the actions of the government of Israel, although the government of Israel disputes that it is an occupying power."

However, the report does not contend that the answer lies in increasing donor assistance, as the Palestinian territories are the largest per capita recipients of aid in the world.

The report also said Israeli moves to "expand settlements on occupied territory, build barriers and restrict Palestinian access and movement continued to harm the economic prospects of a future Palestinian state".

"These actions - the expansion of settlements on occupied territory and the accompanying security infrastructure, including the construction of a security barrier, a system of separate roads, road blocks, checkpoints, permits as well as the restrictions on Palestinian commerce and trade, especially from Gaza - are justified by Israel on the grounds of security.

"Every state has a duty to protect its citizens and Israel has genuine security concerns. However, we question the proportionality of many of the measures it takes, their human cost and their effectiveness in achieving the long-term peace and security that the peoples of Israel and Palestine deserve."

Commenting on the report, Professor Gerald Steinberg, executive director of the NGO Monitor, said: "The report is more of an ideologically motivated attack on Israel that repeats tired slogans, rather than a serious analysis of the impact, if any, of massive British aid to the Palestinians. The text relies heavily on false allegations made by highly politicized NGOs, many of whom are funded by DFID, thereby undermining the objectivity and credibility of the committee's investigation.

"For example, War on Want is quoted as calling for suspending Israel's Association Agreement with the EU, using false human rights accusations in which the context of massive Palestinian terror is erased.

"Similarly, the report gives legitimacy to BADIL, an NGO that promotes extremist Palestinian refugee claims that extend the conflict and prevent compromise. And Christian Aid, whose campaigns with Sabeel promote boycotts, divestment and demonization, repeats the slogans that blame Israel for Palestinian poverty, ignoring the corruption and internal violence."

The International Development Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for International Development and its associated public bodies. It is made up of 11 cross-party MPs.

"Submissions to the committee that presented alternatives analyses and important facts were ignored in the report, including NGO Monitor's detailed evidence on the biases of the pro-Palestinian NGOs. When the committee members visited Israel in November, they primarily met with groups that enforced their prejudices, further reducing the value of this report."