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Mideast Peace Can Start with Economic Growth

[Wall Street Journal] Daniel Doron - Though billions of dollars in "aid" have flowed into the Palestinian territories, Palestinian leaders used it to bolster terrorist groups and fight Israel, rather than build their society. In order to succeed, peace efforts need to create positive incentives. An economic peace process can create such a reality, as it has in the past until political obsessions interrupted it. Following Israel's conquest of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, Gen. Moshe Dayan's "open bridges" policy facilitated the free movement of goods and people, and brought prosperity to the private sector. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were employed in Israel for much higher wages than under Jordanian and Egyptian rule. Living standards quintupled and agriculture, manufacturing, education, health and the status of women and children rapidly improved. And there were practically no incidents of terrorism. Today, many policy-makers advocate a total separation between Israel and the Palestinians. But the latter cannot develop a prosperous economy and a viable state in economic isolation. Separation will result in economic ruin, as has already happened in Gaza. For centuries, civilized Europeans slaughtered one another and political solutions were unable to stop the carnage. Then the creation of a European economic community shifted political priorities and peace came to reign. A similar process can lead, again, to peaceful developments in the Middle East. With no viable alternatives, it's certainly worth trying. The writer is president of the Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress.
2009-03-12 06:00:00
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