The OPEC Fund for International Development today approved a grant of US$570,000 to help finance four capacity building projects designed to address some of the most urgent needs of the poorest, hardest hit communities in the West Bank. The aim is to enable them to secure a decent standard of living. This is the fifth grant approved under the Fund’s Special Grant Account for Palestine, which was set up with an initial endowment of US$10 million. The first grant was approved in December 2002 to provide financial support to Palestinian universities and students. Read more about OPEC Fund extends US$570,000 grant to help finance capacity building projects in Palestine
If a just peace is to prevail in the region, Israel must agree to dismantle the Wall, return confiscated land to its owners, and compensate Palestinians for damages and lost income, argue Lucy Mair and Robyn Long. Israeli occupation has made the Palestinian economy dependent upon Israel. The wall would exacerbate that dependence and vulnerability. Read more about Backs to the Wall
Hasan Barghouthi is a trade unionist and a known activist for peace, democracy and social justice in Palestine. On 15 October 2003, he was prohibited by the Israeli authorities from leaving the occupied territories, and on 28 October he was informed by the Israeli intelligence services that he was prohibited from traveling abroad. His work as Director of the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center in Palestine (DWRC) requires him to travel often, and the Israeli occupying power’s decision to deny him his right to freedom of movement in the future will seriously affect it. Read more about Prominent Palestinian labor rights activist, prohibited from traveling
The Danish relief agency, DanChurchAid, recently started a consumers’ campaign against settlement products. It launched a website and asks consumers to sign a consumer petition to the European Commission. Fruits and vegatables produced in the illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are exported and marketed as ‘made in Israel’. This is a violation of the trade agreement between Israel and the European Union. The agreement exempts Israeli products - but not settlement products - from import duty. Read more about Made in Israel? Are your tomatoes from an illegal settlement?
An audit of the Palestinian Authority revealed that President Yasser Arafat diverted $900 million in public funds to a special bank account he controlled, an International Monetary Fund official said Saturday. The study covers the last three years of economic developments in the West Bank and Gaza. It covers the impact of the conflict on the economy and the banking sector, and it also covers all the fiscal and budgetary developments during a time of crisis. The other kind of main coverage of this study is the whole reform process. Read more about IMF audit reveals Arafat diverted $900 million to account under his personal control
The OPEC Fund for International Development today approved a grant of US$930,000 to help finance a series of social projects designed to address some of the most urgent needs of the poorest, hardest hit communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Grant resources will be divided among seven organizations in support of projects covering a wide range of sectors. This is the fourth grant approved under the Fund’s Special Grant Account for Palestine, which was set up with an initial endowment of US$10 million. Read more about OPEC Fund extends US$930,000 grant to help finance social projects in Palestine
Protracted occupation and conflict have effectively transformed the occupied Palestinian territory into a “war-torn economy”, with serious implications for Palestinian development prospects, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in a new report. The report, issued annually on UNCTAD’s assistance to the Palestinian people, calls for a new policy framework to bridge relief and development efforts. Read more about War-torn Palestinian economy needs to bridge relief and development, says UNCTAD report
By 2003, three years of continuous economic decline and widespread devastation had transformed the occupied Palestinian territory into a “war-torn economy”. The economic legacies of war identified in comparative research on conflict economies are relevant in recognizing the true nature of the Palestinian economic predicament: structural deterioration and sustained negative growth; declining export capacity and emergence of an unsustainable trade gap; and greater external dependence and extended poverty. Read more about UNCTAD's assistance to the Palestinian people
Various EU members have taken differing positions on settlement trade, but the consensual mode of EU foreign policymaking has allowed the lowest common denominator position to prevail. Despite escalating controversy over the settlement trade dating back to 1998, and calls in 2002 by the European Parliament to suspend free trade with Israel outright, the EU’s executive tier has so far stymied any action. What is more, over the past five years, this inaction has gradually shaded into active intervention to forestall, and ultimately render near impossible, future remedies. Read more about On settlement trade, Europe doesn't stand tall
