[lbo-talk] The unemployment fence

[Arash]

I was wondering if local leftist movements organized for better economic
integration between israel and palestine in the past?  I don't know how
relevant it is to think about now, but it seems like if the old links
between the two economies had been strengthed and made more balanced by
progressive political movements, the current political environment today
might not be so bleak.  It might have even laid groundwork for binationalist
solution to become a political reality.

Arash

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/391728.html
Ha'aertz Feb 7
The unemployment fence
By Danny Rubinstein

During the Palestinian Authority's very first years of existence (1994-97),
it failed to invest any effort in creating sources of employment in the West
Bank and Gaza, meaning Palestinian dependence on the Israeli labor market
had to continue. This is the principal conclusion of a study by Ziyonit
Fattal Kuperwasser of Bar-Ilan University's Middle East studies department.

So why did this happen? It is doubtful that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and
his people actually wanted continuing dependence on Israel. But even if they
did not want it, continued dependence was nonetheless very convenient in
many respects for the Palestinian political and economic leadership.

Around 45,000 Palestinians presently work in Israel, 30,000 of them
illegally. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan will sharply cut
this number - and also the amount of work that factories in the territories
do for Israeli companies. All this spells another serious blow to the
Palestinian Authority after those years of failure to reduce economic
dependence on Israel