The Palestinian Economy And The Oslo Process

From the River to the Sea: Palestine and Israel in the Shadow of ‘Peace’ provides original analyses of how different coping strategies were developed as well as new forms of political expression, interaction, and mobilization since the 1993 peace deal between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. Its premise is that an historical realism is essential in order to develop a route out of the post-Oslo impasse that extended and solidified the power imbalance under the auspices of ‘peace’. The book includes chapters from experts across the disciplines of anthropology, economics, law, political science and sociology to map out and critically assess the impacts and responses to this ‘peace’ in different geographical and political settings. These innovative analyses also investigate processes that might enable a future to be built based on greater equality and an end to the oppression and violence that currently exists between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (and beyond).

This book explores the political economy of Palestine through critical, interdisciplinary, and decolonial perspectives, underscoring that an approach to economics that does not consider the political—a de-politicized economics—is inadequate to understanding the situation in occupied Palestine. A critical interdisciplinary approach to political economy challenges prevailing neoliberal logics and structures that reproduce racial capitalism, and explores how the political economy of occupied Palestine is shaped by processes of accumulation by exploitation and dispossession from both Israel and global business, as well as from Palestinian elites. A decolonial approach to Palestinian political economy foregrounds struggles against neoliberal and settler colonial policies and institutions, and aids in the de-fragmentation of Palestinian life, land, and political economy that the Oslo Accords perpetuated, but whose histories of de-development over all of Palestine can be traced back for over a century. The chapters in this book offer an in-depth contextualization of the Palestinian political economy, analyze the political economy of integration, fragmentation, and inequality, and explore and problematize multiple sectors and themes of political economy in the absence of sovereignty.

Markus Bouillon's book makes an important and original contribution to the literature on the Middle East peace process. It is based on extensive and imaginative research and it is packed with new and fascinating material. Bouillon places the behaviour of the elites under an uncompromising lens. His work serves as a useful corrective to the conventional wisdom by highlighting the negative effects of the peace process for all but the elites in Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. Avi Shlaim, Oxford University. "The first full-length, authoritative account of the various dimensions of business in the context of Arab-Israeli “peace”. ... an empirically dense and nuanced analysis" James Piscatori, Oxford University

Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been the subject of extensive international peacebuilding and statebuilding efforts coordinated by Western donor states and international finance institutions. Despite their failure to yield peace or Palestinian statehood, the role of these organisations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is generally overlooked owing to their depiction as tertiary actors engaged in technical missions. In Palestine Ltd., Toufic Haddad explores how neoliberal frameworks have shaped and informed the common understandings of international, Israeli and Palestinian interactions throughout the Oslo peace process. Drawing upon more than 20 years of policy literature, field-based interviews and recently declassified or leaked documents, he details how these frameworks have led to struggles over influencing Palestinian political and economic behaviour, and attempts to mould the class character of Palestinian society and its leadership. A dystopian vision of Palestine emerges as the by-product of this complex asymmetrical interaction, where nationalism, neo-colonialism and `disaster capitalism' both intersect and diverge. This book is essential for students and scholars interested in Middle East Studies, Arab-Israeli politics and international development.

The volume brings together cutting-edge political economy analyses of the Palestinian people: those living in the occupied territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, those living within Israel, and refugees in Arab states. It is a must-read for those who wish to understand the historical origins and contemporary realities that face Palestinians.

Based on original academic research and first hand evidence, this book explores the interface between politics and international assistance within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace process after 1993 to the present day.

One of the most serious results of the continuing violence between Palestinians and Israelis and incursions of Israeli military forces into Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) has been a dramatic increase in poverty within the Palestinian Territories. Fears about the consequences of this increase in Palestinian poverty resembles similar concerns about Palestinian poverty and the need for economic development in the Palestinian Territories made during the Oslo peace process. The drafters of the Oslo process recognized that in order to stimulate Palestinian economic development, the Palestinian economy must be connected to the global economy. This article chronicles the issue of Palestinian economic underdevelopment. Section II describes the features of the Palestinian poverty problem. Section III provides an analysis of the strategy for economic development in the Oslo Accords, which attempted to establish a framework to develop the Palestinian economy. Section IV discusses the failure of the Oslo economic development strategy. Section V links the Palestinian economic development with international economic law. Section VI addresses the post-Oslo Palestinian economic crisis by examining the current Israeli thinking about separating Israel and the Palestinian Territories both economically and physically. The article concludes by arguing that the hurdles that confront Palestinian decision-makers with regard to economic development are considerable. In addition, the Israeli separation strategy does not represent a realistic solution to the deepening Palestinian underdevelopment economic problem which remains central to the resolution of the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis. At present, no viable strategies to promote Palestinian economic development are evident, leaving the economic future of the Palestinian people uncertain and little hope for a final resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

This book examines the nature of donor operations in Palestine and questions the viability of aid as an instrument of ‘economic development’ in conflict zones. It highlights the political and ideological determinants of aid allocation and effectiveness, arguing that aid to Palestine cannot bring about significant improvement as long as the Palestinian economy is fundamentally affected by Israeli occupation, settlement and blockade.