Israel’s ‘economic peace’ is hollowing out the Palestinian economy
Bennett’s initiative to entice Palestinians to work in Israel’s high-tech sector will make it harder for the struggling Palestinian economy to stand on its own two feet.
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Naftali Bennett may have brought about Benjamin Netanyahu’s defeat and created Israel’s most diverse government, but governing is more than electoral gymnastics. It comes down to policies, and Bennett is revealing himself as a polished Netanyahu: right-wing in direction, expansionist in desire and openly defending settler violence towards Palestinians.
The Palestinian economy is currently front of mind for Bennett, who has proposed “shrinking the conflict” under which Israel will take measures to assist its struggling economy while maintaining the military occupation; a new and improved form of Netanyahu’s failed “economic peace”.
Although this initiative has received wide media coverage, nearly all of it has ignored the fact that it recognises Israel as the chief controller of Palestinian economic planning and development, followed by acquiescent foreign state donors enabled by the US, with Palestinians a distant last in the pecking order of influence.
