Abstract
This assignment looks at the effect of the September 11 bombing of the US concerning Israel and Palestine relations. Of concern is that the discussion comes out with facts that Israel has developed policies that favor them with the backing of the US. The US has used Israel as an offshore military base to advance its military influence on the Middle East. Palestine will continue depending on Israel until a two-state settlement is reached in an unpredictable time frame.
Israel’s Relationship With Palestine
Israel’s relationship with Palestine has been frosty since 1967 after the conflict. The policies have been enacted to foster Israel’s control over the Palestinian economy where the major problem for the leaders have been to distinguish between the integration of Palestine into the Israeli economy or separation into two separate economic and political entities. In 1967 the borders after a preliminary recommendation from the committee set up by Prime Minister Eshkol were eliminated as new one were established. The external borders were closed as and the Green Line has abolished in which economic transactions crossed the Green Line. This however happened with visible and hidden restrictions.
Israel implemented the trade protocol with conditions in which the external trade was dictated by them in which custom union was established. The movement of manufactured goods and agricultural goods was controlled to limit competition from territories. The Palestinian public sector that dealt with taxation, service provision, and investment infrastructure among others was closed in 1967 up to 1993 when the limited opening was allowed. Macroeconomic
policies aimed at helping Palestinians were never implemented, local currency never existed banking system was closed until the 1980s.
The GDP of the Palestine region especially the West Bank and Gaza was less developed than that of Israel. For example in 1976 the GDP in West Bank was 3.5 % of Israel and in Gaza, it was 1%. the living conditions between Palestine and Israel continues up to the present as seen in the table below;
The initial recommendations of Israel policy included;
- a) holding territories by conducting suitable economic activities
- b) holding territories with emphasis on resolving the problem of refugees in the Gaza strip
- c) delivering the economic borders between administered territories and Israel
- d) Palestinian labor force not permitted into Israel economy while allowing free movement of goods and services.
- e) Provision of employment through housing in the Gaza strip.
- f) Eliminating trade border but preserving labor order
But within 2 years after the adoption of the recommendations, the labor border disappeared and the trade border was demarcated with limitations that protect Israeli farmers.
Due to this policies implementation, two groups emerged each supporting different opinions about economic integration and separation, Moshe Dayan, the then prime minister supported economic integration which could reduce economic hardship while the other group wanted economic separation would allow the flow of goods and services thereby reducing economic deprivation of the territories.
The economic policy of Israel from the 1960s played a key role in shape in which development of the Palestinian economy for the last four decades. This was evident in the pattern of employment of Palestinians. Their salaries were lower than Israeli workers and the economy grew at a slow pace due to Israeli politics. After the 1987 Intifada, closer ties between Israel and Palestine developed in trade and employment. The Gulf War led to the expected implementation of a peace policy in which the Arab countries that supported the US invasion wanted a permanent peace solution. However, Israel reassessed the situation which led to a change in economic policy.
In 1991 Israel agreed to let local initiatives that would compete with Israeli manufactures. These also led to Israel-PLO arrangements of political and economic dimensions in which they wanted to implement the Oslo Accord that requires an agreed approach. The imposed economic regime of Israel ended and the Paris protocol made significant modifications to the 1960s policies. Here the trade barriers and trade regime were implemented.
After the Paris protocol, new restrictions were imposed and free movement of goods and labor within Israel and territories was restricted. Political and security concerns were established and enforced by Israel. It created the Palestine interim self-governing authority (PISGA) that later transformed into Palestine authority. The Palestine authority was responsible for civil and security issues. But due to frequent closures and replacement of Palestine workers with foreign workers, there were changes in relations between the two and made Palestine crumble its economy.
Palestine continued to depend on Israel who transferred about 60% of revenue collected to Palestine authority but was stopped when there was the bombing of Israel in 1997. On this note in it is apparent that the demarcation of Palestine from Israel in terms of political, legal, and economic borders continues to affect Israel politics up to the present. In July 2000 the talks on the Palestine-Israel peace pact failed to achieve an amicable solution and hence resulted in the Second Intifada. These had a catastrophic impact on the economy of Israel and Palestine. Israel’s economy dropped by 8% while living standards in Palestine dropped by 35% in West Bank alone and the poverty rate rose to 40%.
It also comes up that since the September 11 bombing of the US Israel’s policies have not changed since 1994. The Hamas group has risen and defeated the US-Israel-backed Fatah leadership. These have posed challenges to Israel’s economic life. This is because Hamas doesn’t recognize Israel as a legitimate political entity, it does not agree with Israel on land demarcation as well as on sharing of the territory. On the other hand Israel doe not recognize the rights of Palestine in principle and deeds.
Chomsky in her review of the effects of September 11 on the US she says that the election of Hamas reinforced the security concern of the US and Israel who opposed it and made sure Hamas did not rule. They financed, trained, and armed Fatah so that they can overthrow Hamas. They stepped up violence in Gaza, withheld funds, and cut water flow to Gaza. They also rejected the call of Hamas for a long-term ceasefire and allow for negotiations. Israel went ahead and annexed, dismembered, and imprisoned Palestinians in the west bank and tightened their grip in Gaza.
US and Israel put demanded Hamas to agree on the implementation of the Road Map of Quartet or otherwise they will not come out from the captivity they were in. these included them to recognize Israel, renounce violence, and accept past agreements. This according to Chomsky is hypocrisy because the US and Israel do not accept the past agreement. For instance, Israel did not agree to cease violence or incitement against Palestine. Thus the Road Map was suppressed and Israel and the US continued to implement their plans in West Bank with the support of Fatah who will be rewarded with the release of 600 million dollars it had frozen.
The US-appointed Ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair as special envoy to Middle East conflict. This has been noted by critics of bush administration as a smear campaign since they hold key decision-making roles and Blair is only to look at problems arising from the institutional building.
However, in January 2001, there was confidence in the settlement of peace accord in Taba Egypt but was called off by Ehud Barak at the last minute dashing hopes for a two-state settlement shortly.
Similarly, the invasion of Israel backed by the US to Lebanon is equated to the 1982 invasion of Palestine in which it was used to provoke Palestine not to agree on diplomatic settlement.
US and Israel have demanded Hams to accept the 2002 Arab League in Beirut proposing for the normalization of Israel according to international consensus. The proposal has been received by PLO, the supreme leader of Iran and Hezbollah. Although this is seen to achieve some peaceful negotiation, the US and Israel find beneficial impact in ensuring they have a visible threat to Iran by eliminating Hezbollah and Lebanon.
The extent to which the US is using Israel shows that Israel is an offshoot of the US military base and that the effects seen in the regional politics are catastrophic even to the interests they claim to uphold. In July 2006 they justified their aggression of Lebanon when they captured two Israeli soldiers. These led to the death of tens of Lebanese civilians. The irony is that these western countries do not see their capture, kidnapping, and killing of civilians as wrong.
Falk and Kriegler in their article on the Iraq war after September 11, explain that this is a battlefield that reinforces their previous war invasion such as the Gulf War(1991), Kosovo(1999), and Afghanistan (2001). The impact of this war is a deviation from what the Israelites are have been oppressing the Palestinian for decades. This is evident given the fact that Americans are involved in the Indo-Pakistan conflict which may cause one of the major wars of nuclear powers and bring international lawlessness. The US foreign policy is destructive and since they set rules and other states follow it will lead to a fight against US influence and interests across the globe.
Conclusion
This paper discusses the effect of the September 11 bombing of the US concerning the Israel Palestine association plus the regional countries. We find that the Israel policies have been established in their favor backed by US foreign policy. This has contributed to the economic marginalization of regional countries in the Middle East such as Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon. Other countries are in a state of cautiousness since the conflict can spill over them like Iran. Palestine continues to depend upon Israel until a solution is found.
References
Arnon, Arie. “Israel policy to Palestine.” Middle East Journal 62, no. 4 (2007): 573.
Chomsky, Naom. US-Israel invasion. (2006), Web.
Chomsky, Naom. Guillotining Gaza. (2007), Web.
Falk, Richard and David Kriegler. After Iraq war. (2003), Web.