MK Binyamin Netanyahu said it, right? And he's been taking flak for it ever since.
But he wasn't the first to say it.
George Mitchell said it a year ago, in an interview in November 2007. Yes, it was President Obama's envoy to the Middle East who declared:
"Political and security measures can’t succeed in any sustainable way unless a very high priority is also given to economic issues.... economic improvement ... has to be front and center, an integral daily part
of the process or else the process can’t gain the necessary support of the people in the societies that are engaged in conflict.... I believe, in every conflict situation people need physical security, they need political freedom, they need personal dignity. In the end what people need most of all are jobs. Economic growth, job creation, to give people opportunity, hope, create a sense of meaningful participation in society."
And here's what Netanyahu said in November 2008 to a Knesset committee, according to Ha'aretz:
Israel intends "to advance peace talks with the Palestinians, in order to gain a stable, safe, and prosperous peace." The Likud leader also vowed that Israel will "continue diplomatic negotiations and we will advance the 'economic peace' whose goal is to bring the rapid development of the Palestinian economy and to prepare public opinion for a real agreement. The economic peace is not an alternative for peace talks but will help guide a winning process. We have seen this in the world, quickened economic development has helped form the conditions for peace and the resolution of conflict," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu was strongly criticized for his economic plan.
In an article entitled, "The Emptiness of Netanyahu's 'Economic Peace' Plan," Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher wrote, "Economic benefits for Palestinians are as intrinsically good for them as for any people, but they, like economic punishments, offer remarkably little substantive input to the peace process."
Fadle Naqib, the acting director of MAS, the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, claimed that Netanyahu's plan was racist and bound to fail. "If you improve the economic situation this will not solve the problem," Naqib told the bitterlemons.org website. "As a matter of fact, this is an idea we've heard many times before. We've heard it from Israel and we've heard it from other governments and international bodies. It contains an element of racism. It says basically that the non-white people, the third world people, the Muslim people and the colored people do not behave according to principles, they behave according to instincts and if you feed them they will do whatever you want them to do. ... I have not seen any situation where the economy has solved a political problem."
What do the Palestinians and Netanyahu's critics in Israel have to say to George Mitchell's economic prescription?
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Who Believes Palestinians' Economic Progress Will Help Bring Peace?
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2 comments:
As an Israeli Jew who has lived in Israel for almost thirty years, I am at a complete loss as to why Obama appointed George Mitchell as a special envoy given his past record. Mr. Mitchell, like every single special envoy before him, has not only failed to advance the Palestinian Israeli peace process, but has left behind a situation often much worse than the one he first encountered. Indeed, every special envoy dispatched here has failed utterly and completely, and some like Marine General Anthony Zinni, just stole away in the middle of the night, returned to America and were never heard from again. If by chance George Mitchell,this time around, will honestly face up to the truth that it is the Palestinians who are responsible for the failure of peace negotiation because they are conducting an insane, savage, and bloody jihad against an Israeli Jewish nation trying to make a serious and productive peace, then maybe he will accomplish something positive. But if Mr. Mitchell continues to ignore this simple and overarching truth, and fails to demand that the Palestinians completely and finally abjure violence, both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table as well as the international arena, then he will join the rest of the failed special envoys, as well he should. I am truly surprised that Mr. Netanyahu should express the belief that the Palestinians would respond positively to Israel following an improvement in their economic situation. After all, he knows, just like I do, that Israeli Arabs have perhaps the best economic situation in the Middle East, and certainly a large percentage, if not a majority of them, loathe Israel, and many of them are more than willing to use violence against Israeli Jews. If any Arab should be pro Israel on account of their financial well being, it should be the Israeli Arabs. If we can't buy them off, good luck on buying off the Palestinian Arabs.
If anyone is interested, Brookings and Politico are having a live web chat today - We will have Brookings expert Tamara Cofman Wittes on hand to answer questions on how Obama’s new signals to the Middle East are being received and the challenges that await the new president in the region. Politico senior editor Fred Barbash will moderate.
The chat starts at 12:30 PM EST and will run about an hour. You can find it on our website here: http://www.brookings.edu/events/2009/0128_gaza_chat.aspx
Hope to see you there!
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