The Palestinian Economic Solution for the West Bank

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Whenever a writer offers criticism of an Arab regime, he is met by numerous pens loyal to the sultan with insult, defamation, and abuse, and, at best, is confronted with the rhetorical challenge: “So what is the alternative?” This is a question that compresses history into a single moment, as though history had stopped moving and come to an end at whatever the leader or ruler — usually described as the inspiration, the symbol, the first teacher, and so on — happens to be doing. The question is not posed in expectation of an answer, but to convey the message that whatever the leader does is the most fitting and the best, and that if his genius had seen otherwise, he would have done otherwise. Hence, to the leader’s sycophants, everything proposed by thinkers who are not hypocrites and who care about the nation’s interest amounts to mere idealism with no application on the ground, or empty erudition aimed only at maligning the leader and the quality of his performance in managing public affairs.

This applies to the Palestinian situation, embodied in an authority that wields a stick over the people in colors that are not Palestinian, and that constantly works to suppress or erase dissenting opinion so that public policy remains its own monopoly and that of its supporters. Palestinian thinkers and intellectuals have offered solutions to many of the problems facing the West Bank and Gaza, and the Palestinian people as a whole, but there is no one who hears, or who listens. The economic and financial problem is considered the most important of these issues facing the West Bank, one that paralyzes its political will. Much criticism has been directed at the economic arrangements in place in the West Bank ever since the Palestinian Authority was established, and solutions have been offered for various economic and financial issues, but the will to discuss these various ideas never crystallized, and all the proposals remained locked away in drawers. I have previously argued that this absent will is linked to an absent political will, one that Palestinians have volunteered to suppress in exchange for private interests. Nevertheless, in this article I offer a clear solution to the economic problem and the financial problem accompanying it, without claiming it is complete.

What is to be expected under occupation

By definition, an occupation works to weaken the people it occupies, and their land, so that they cannot muster the strength to resist it and remain submissive and subdued. For this reason, occupation works to strip people of their will and suppress them by every means and method, works to destroy their economy, to dismantle their social and moral fabric, and to degrade their capacities for education and advancement in every sphere of life. Occupation is odious by definition, and all its actions serve to reinforce this odiousness; anyone who expects otherwise from it is simply thinking naively.

Occupation constitutes a great challenge for the people who fall under it, and it is to be expected that they will generate a counter-challenge aimed at overcoming the occupation and gaining liberation from it. It is to be expected that people will change their patterns of social and economic behavior, raise the level of collective work and mutual cooperation, be careful to keep their activities secret, and manage their economic affairs in a way that suits the requirements imposed on them by the challenge of occupation. Whoever wants liberation from occupation does not care about a high standard of consumption, does not dream of buying an Italian bedroom set, does not rush to buy his enemy’s goods unless national necessity compels him to, and does not go chasing after life’s pleasures. It is to be expected that whoever seeks liberation will devote his life and all his capacities toward the goal of expelling the occupation, and will develop his capabilities in a manner that strengthens his ability to confront it.

It is true that occupation is accursed, but the one who falls under occupation is not exempt or innocent, for had he not conducted his life in an unsound manner, he would not have fallen under occupation, and had he not been remiss in confronting the occupation, it would not have sat on his chest for decades. Whoever prepares to confront and challenge the occupation should not expect any good from it. The price of liberation is steep, and free people must expect harm, repression, killing, destruction, and persecution. I say this because there are those who will immediately say that the occupation will not allow people to carry out the actions that lead to free will and liberation. But whoever waits for permission from the occupation, or for its leniency or tolerance, wants in fact to remain forever under occupation.

The Zionist-American economic solution

There circulates in the media what is known as “the economic solution” to the conflict they call the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is well known that the media does not cover much of the news or the projects put forward by the poor, by thinkers, or by intellectuals, but rather covers, for the most part, the ideas, opinions, and projects put forward by the powerful and the influential. Arab and Palestinian media, for the most part, do not cover local ideas rooted in national commitments and belonging to the people and the land; they mostly cover ideas coming from states of influence and power, ideas usually rooted in interests and benefits. This is why we find so much media coverage given to the idea of an economic solution to the conflict.

The economic solution does not address the question of expelling the occupation or strengthening the Palestinian people’s capacity to gain liberation from it; rather, it rests on manufacturing the appropriate conditions that lead to a settlement between Palestinians and Zionists based on normalizing relations, mutual recognition, and liquidating the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the right of return and the right to self-determination. In short, proponents of this view say that if a good economic situation is secured for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and their consumption level becomes good, then they will forget the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people, and instead of thinking of resisting the occupation, they will coexist with it within a Palestinian entity that acts as a security agent for Israel, and the doors of cooperation between the two sides will consequently open. This solution places consumer value as the priority, and works to subsequently reformulate the various Palestinian values so as to place them beneath this supreme consumer value. In other words, the solution attempts to turn Palestinians into consuming animals, capable of thinking only about how to improve the quality of their meal, without their minds being occupied by questions of rights, national dignity, and independence. The economic solution is not a solution to an economic problem within an existing intellectual and cultural framework; rather, it is a solution within a new cultural, intellectual, and moral framework that replaces the old one, such that the Palestinian’s very skin is exchanged for another. The West and Israel devise this solution, and Palestinians adopt it in what amounts to a clear conspiracy against their own people.

Looking at the Paris Economic Protocol, we find that it tied the Palestinian people’s daily bread to Israel and the donor states, and gradually those implementing it began turning the Palestinian people into an audience of consumers and beggars, while national values began retreating, little by little, before consumer values. In this way the economic solution ends up paralyzing the Palestinian will and turning Palestinians into little more than a national disability, a burden on the homeland rather than an asset to it.

The Palestinian solution

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…has no relation to consumer values or to recognition of the Zionist entity. Below are its main lines:

The cultural program

It is important to develop a Palestinian cultural program that includes Palestinians wherever they are, one that entrenches the values of belonging, commitment, liberation, solidarity, and mutual support, and that raises awareness of the Palestinian cause and of the conflict as an Arab-Israeli conflict and an Islamic-Israeli conflict. A system of cultural values is important in the life of peoples; it is the essential compass guiding the actions and behavior of individuals, groups, and institutions. If this system is absent, chaos prevails and fragmentation and disintegration creep in, and if it loses its coherence and people’s commitment to it, the moral system collapses and people turn into mere individuals, each searching only for his own private interests. The Palestinian people are in dire need of this system, which ought to be at the very top of the Palestinian plan’s priorities.

This cultural program focuses on self-reliance as a supreme value, and on rejecting the values of begging and dependence on others. A person must learn that his dignity, honor, and independence are achieved through the sweat of his own brow and his own blood, not through dependence on others, and that whoever wants to eat from another’s sweat will never be satisfied except with humiliation, disgrace, and hunger. If this culture is the starting point toward liberation, then the people will learn, over time, to give up many consumer goods in favor of production and construction, so as to be able to carry their own burdens themselves.

The Palestinian people cannot forge their path effectively and successfully if the individual does not distinguish between the value of consuming a Palestinian product and consuming a Zionist product, or if he gives priority to consumer values over national ones. Nor will he have the strength to reclaim his rights unless his leaders learn to bear hardship and fatigue and accept for themselves what they accept for their people.

Agricultural development

Agricultural development, in all its forms, is the first step toward self-reliance, because securing one’s daily bread constitutes the first building block of self-reliance. It is true that agriculture does not represent a high proportion of the local national income, but it is what provides the food basket, and it is what protects people from the scourge of begging. The West Bank lacks sufficient agricultural land, but what is required is to make use of whatever land is available, to stop converting agricultural land into residential areas, and to focus on reclaiming arable land. Many mountains and valleys in the West Bank remain uncultivated, and an agricultural policy should be developed to expand the cultivated area. We must not always make excuses about scarce resources and limited water, and decide to fail before we even begin. Whoever tries finds a way, and whoever finds a way can develop it. This development should also include livestock and poultry.

Imports

Importing Zionist goods that the Palestinian people do not need, or for which they have an alternative, should stop. There are goods that cannot be avoided buying from the Zionists, such as cement and construction steel, but there are many goods that Palestinians do not need in their daily lives, and others for which alternatives exist. The importation of agricultural products should be banned outright. The Palestinian people have no need for avocados, persimmons, or mangoes, and can produce cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, plums, and dates.

Importing manufactured goods from foreign countries such as China should stop, while local production should be encouraged instead. Importing from abroad has destroyed many crafts and industries in the West Bank, such as tailoring, shoemaking, textiles, and the canning of agricultural products. The appetite for imports has grown astonishingly, in a way that has deprived Palestinian workers of the ability to continue their work because of the closure of many workshops and factories. The import process has gone beyond all reason and has turned into a disregard for national values, the values of self-reliance, and the encouragement of national industry.

And when speaking of imports and consumption, a people seeking freedom does not stop at the cost or quality of a good, but cares about its national value and the extent of its contribution to building a self-reliant society.

Production and taxes

Encouraging local products leads to two things: an increase in local production, and the consequent increase in tax revenues, and the provision of jobs for Palestinian workers who now look to European countries to provide them with their food basket. This means that the budget of those overseeing Palestinian affairs will improve, and it will become possible to cover a larger share of the required expenditures. This should be accompanied by a reduction in government positions, and the transfer of unproductive employees, such as security-apparatus personnel, into productive jobs and work.

Donor-state funds

Donor-state funds do not constitute a genuine support for the Palestinian people; rather, they form a noose around the people’s neck, meant to humiliate them and ultimately force them to relinquish their national rights. More than half the budget of these donor states comes from Arab countries, and about 30 percent of their budget is spent by the donor states themselves as administrative expenses. The Palestinian people should demand that Arab states pay their money directly to Palestinians instead of routing it through the donor states, but that requires holding accountable, and putting on trial, the Palestinian thieves who have wronged the Palestinian people through their shameful and disgraceful conduct. The people must undertake a cleansing that restores others’ trust in them.

But a return to Arab aid does not mean abandoning self-reliance. The people must insist on continuing to work and improve their production so as not to remain dependent on others, without forgetting that Arab regimes are not independent in their decisions, are not faithful to their promises, and may break their commitments at any moment.

Conclusion

Implementing the steps above is neither easy nor smooth, and the occupation’s measures stand ready to spoil whatever sound work is undertaken. So who will win: the occupation’s repression, or the people’s persistence? History speaks of the victory of the will of peoples, however immense the scale of sacrifice required.

The Palestinian people need axes with which to cut rock, level ground, and plant trees — not lessons in consumer values. Whoever wishes the people well teaches them how to produce food, and whoever wishes them ill brings them the latest car models, lipstick brands, shoe styles, and McDonald’s restaurants. Whoever does not want a homeland, an independent state, or the return of the refugees is striving instead to keep his hand the lower hand, and his house open to those who covet the land. If there is anyone who wants a homeland, then a homeland requires sacrifice and a harsh life; and whoever wants to remain without a homeland must remain exactly as he is — slapping his own cheeks and pleading for help from the Jews.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “الحل الاقتصادي الفلسطيني للضفة الغربية” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.