The settlements – Good for Us and Good for Them
According to a study recently conducted by Al-Quds University and published in Haaretz, as of 2010, Palestinians invested private capital in Israel to the tune of 2.5 billion-5.8 billion dollars, while investments in the Palestinian Authority stand at only about 1.58 million dollars.
Issa Smeirat of Bethlehem drew his sociological conclusions based on basic data received from the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and on questionnaires and interviews conducted with a group of about 400 Palestinian businesspeople.
According to his data, about 16,000 Palestinian businesspeople have received permanent entry permits into Israel, and their investments, which are made in settlements as well as inside the boundaries of the “Green Line,” are mainly focused on traditional low-tech industries and construction.
There are many reasons why Palestinian capital has started to migrate into Israel. The restrictions the IDF has been forced to impose on the residents of the Palestinian Authority, rampant corruption in the Palestinian apparatuses and the Palestinian Authority’s weak legal system make Israel, with its much more business-friendly atmosphere, a coveted destination for investment.
Despite the desire on the part of various entities to place the blame for this phenomenon on Israel, the survey Smeirat conducted showed that 35.3% of the investors said that they would not want to go back to investing in the areas of the West Bank; 28.9% said they would go back if the PA did a better job of managing the economy, while 35.8% said they would only go back if certain conditions, such as infrastructure and loans, improved. In view of the fact that of all these issues, only the matter of infrastructure can be attributed in some way to Israel, the main blame for the drain of Palestinian capital lies at the door of the Palestinian Authority and its leaders.
This study further supports the notion that the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria is good for the Palestinians too. The Israeli industrial zones employ no fewer than 11,000 Arabs from Judea and Samaria, who earn two to three times more than the average Palestinian salary.
The fact that the involvement of the Palestinian Authority is harmful to the Palestinian inhabitants themselves is also proved when examining the fluctuations in the numbers of Palestinians employed in Israel, as presented in the following graphic:
Palestinians employed in Israel (in thousands)
As can be seen, the number of Palestinians employed in Israel behaves as an opposite function of the advancement of the peace process begun in Oslo. This number peaked in 1993, on the eve of the signing of the Oslo peace agreements, after which, it saw a sharp decline during the period of the Labor government, which advanced the Palestinian Authority’s control of the cities of Judea and Samaria. This number began to rise again only after a change in government, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory in the 1996 elections, which tried to suspend the Oslo process and restrict the power of the Palestinian Authority.
The peace process conducted by Israel in the past 20 years has harmed both sides and has not produced the anticipated results. Israel must discontinue its attempts to pursue utopian dreams of peace and focus on improving the day-to-day life of the inhabitants of the area.
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