Memorandum submitted by Ms Isabelle Humphries
My testimony is independent opinion gathered
through three years working throughout the Palestinian Occupied
Territories, and in no way reflects official policy of UNDP or
any other NGO that I worked with.
1. I was contracted by UNDP/PAPP (UN Development
Programme/ Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People),
to write their quarterly magazine, FOCUS. The aim of FOCUS
is to provide information on the progress of the work of UNDP/PAPP,
amongst whom DFID and the EU play a significant part in the funding,
and also to raise awareness of the difficulties facing the Palestinian
people, and those who seek to support Palestinian economic development.
2. Whilst researching and making numerous
field trips to projects in towns, villages and refugee camps across
the West Bank and Gaza, I had ample opportunity to hear directly
from local beneficiaries, partner organisations and local Palestinian
municipalities, of the effectiveness or otherwise of international
financial aid. Whilst people were undoubtedly grateful for the
excellent work that international donors enable through agencies
such as UNDP, without international political lobbying for an
end to the restrictions on movement of goods and people enforced
by Israel, development of a viable Palestinian economy cannot
even begin.
3. UNDP has correctly identified that mass
unemployment is one of the most pressing needs in the West Bank,
a problem cutting across class and gender. Mass unemployment has
been created by closure of borders to imports and exports, and
to the tens of thousands of workers who previously earned a living
in Israel. UNDP projects try to maximise the number of working
days provided.
4. Sadly, employment and raised standards
of living created by, for example, the building of sewage networks
in Northern Gaza, or environmental preservation in Wadi Gaza (UNDP
funded projects), will only provide income in the short term.
The average worker can only be given a few months work at the
maximum by an internationally funded project. For certain such
projects boost morale and feed malnourished children for an extra
few weeks, but this can make few inroads into the main task of
developing a genuinely viable economy which can support the Palestinian
people in the long term.
5. Control over the movement of goods and
people at Israeli points of entry to the West Bank and Gaza becomes
increasingly devastating on Palestinian trade, employment and
economic development. There can be no serious development without
the lifting of boundaries, both physical and army enforced.
6. I visited a tomato grower benefiting
from the Wadi Gaza project to reclaim the wetlands in Gaza. The
project had greatly increased the quality of water available to
him so his crop yield had doubled. Yet he could still tell me
of how boxes and boxes of his crops went to waste rotting in lorries
on the border into Israel, unable to reach the Israeli markets
from which he can make his income.
7. Yet more borders keep being built, the
"wall of separation" and the settlements which doubled
in the Oslo years. Strangling Qalqilya and other cities, the wall
has made a devastating impact on the economy, cutting off water
supplies, preventing villagers from reaching hospitals and educational
institutions in the district town of Qalqilya.
8. Seeing the massive scale of land confiscation
in Jayyous for the wall, or the continuing settlement building,
it is no wonder that people ask me why the international community
refers to a "peace process". "There is no peace
process", countless people have explained to me, "Look
around us". It is difficult to see why these people should
put their faith in the international "peace talks",
while physical action on the ground, development of settlements
and confiscation of land speaks only of further oppression. It
is imperative that the international community are not just seen
to give money to individual projects, but that the people can
see that governmental powers are using all their lobbying power
to end the devastation of the economy on the ground. Aid can only
become more than a sticking plaster when it is accompanied by
political lobbying for an end to closure.
9. A question of the inquiry concerns accountability
of Palestinian government institutions. During times of such hardship
it is difficult for institutions to be run efficiently or to be
brought to account. People feel that they have more pressing daily
needs than challenging shortfalls in the ruling system. Thus any
corruption or poor governance will only be addressed by the Palestinian
people themselves, when the attacks on their society and their
institutions ends from outside. While the Israelis continue to
control movement and curfews, the Palestinians cannot address
the needs of building a stable accountable foundation for government,
which is so necessary for an autonomous and viable economy. The
UK and the EU must keep up the pressure on Israel to free up Palestinian
society to be able to build its own government.
10. Regarding technical capacities of the
public and private sector, it is difficult for professionals to
take part in training programs in other parts of the West Bank
and Gaza, let alone abroad. Palestinians used to be one of the
most educated people in the Arab world, building the economies
of Gulf nations, yet the latest generation is being prevented
from receiving the training they need to build their own economy.
11. Civil society, including NGOs, is essential
in ensuring a broad popular participation in the development of
Palestinian society. Yet a crucial part of developing civil society,
the possibility of having open and regular meetings, is rendered
almost impossible by Israeli closure. Even people from neighbouring
West Bank towns have trouble meeting to discuss issues of importance,
let alone meetings between West Bankers and Gazans, to discuss
the state of the society and the economy.
12. NGOs are rightly given DFID and EU money
via various channels. However, I know having interviewed people,
and worked myself with NGOs on the ground such as the Palestinian
Center for Peace and Democracy (PCPD), that it impossible to get
projects and public participation going during closure. Many people
are also afraid to become active in local politics, in case of
being accused of "incitement" by the Israelis. Alongside
financially supporting NGOs, international donors must press Israel
to end the closure that prevents such activity.
13. Priorities for UK aid: to create not
just a sticking plaster, but lasting change. Aid must be seen
as part, not independent from, an active political engagement
to ease the closure that is strangling the Palestinian economy.
14. Potential for economic cooperation with
Israel: In order to give Palestinians the chance of equal rights
with Israelis, they must not simply become cheap labour in Israel
once more. A genuinely viable economy has be built, and quickly,
based on Palestinian strengths and needs. And for those who in
the future do work in Israel again, they must be treated with
equal rights as Jewish workers. Having worked myself with a worker's
rights organisation in Israel, I have seen at first hand the discrimination
against Arab workers, even those with Israeli passports. For a
lasting peace this inequality must be challenged.
August 2003
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