By Munir K. Nasser
Chief Correspondent, Washington, DC
Albawaba.com
The United States called on Israel to lift the economic restrictions on the Palestinians, saying the US government does not believe that "exerting economic pressure can be productive."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters that "This only leads to great hardship to Palestinian families and disrupts their economic life. So we have urged, and continue to urge, the Israelis to ease their restrictions."
Boucher was commenting on the World Bank approval on Wednesday of a $12 million grant to help put Palestinians back to work and ease the “severe economic shock'' caused by Israel's blockade during two months of violence.
According to Joseph Saba, the World Bank director for West Bank and Gaza, the grant to the Palestinians was a “highly unusual move for the World Bank,” since the bank usually provides loans rather than grants. He said, however, the severe economic shock affecting the Palestinian economy calls for a rapid response'' that won't burden Palestinians with repayment requirements.
The World Bank grant comes after a United Nations report Tuesday that found Israel's blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has tripled Palestinian unemployment to 40 percent and wiped out the tentative economic gains of the past three years. The World Bank said the economy has been further crippled by work stoppages due to short supplies of materials and movement restrictions. The bank grant aims to provide temporary employment for unskilled and semiskilled laborers. The grant is also intended to serve as a catalyst for other donors to make parallel or joint contributions, the bank said.
Boucher said that the Palestinians are clearly being harmed by the economic restrictions that have been imposed on them by Israel. Some of these restrictions, he added, have been eased, “but we know that life remains very, very difficult.”
Boucher stressed that the US doesn't think there is a military solution to this problem. “We don't think there's a place for violence, nor do we think that economic and political pressure are the way to resolve it. We've consistently urged a path of negotiations and a path of cooperation to end the cycle of violence and get back to a negotiating track,” he said.
Boucher noted that the US supports the humanitarian, economic development and the welfare needs of the Palestinians to the tune of some $400 million to $500 million per year. He added that the US provides considerable assistance in areas of health, water, and sanitation projects at the village level. He also noted that there is an annual assistance package to the Palestinians in the year 2000 that was $85 million of economic assistance, and the same thing in fiscal year 2001.
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