Palestine Think Tank

The huge propaganda machine went in parallel with the so-called “Bethlehem Investment Conference” which has attracted more than 1400 participants from many places around the world. It is the first time since 15 years of siege that the holy town of Bethlehem enjoyed the chance to see the holy city of Jerusalem. Thanks to the few days that Israel lifted the blockades[1]. But why not, when capital speaks, religion must fall on its knees. Those who want to pass from Bethlehem to Jerusalem are not Christian or Muslim pilgrims, they are capitalists. In his marketing speech of the conference, the PA’s Prime Minister said (Al-Auds Daily May 22): “The main proof of the conference’s success is the attendance of the PA’s chairman Abu Mazen!”

It is not the first time that Palestinian people are being economically brainwashed. When the Oslo Accords were signed, which is “peace for capital”, poor Palestinians were dancing in the streets dreaming that they will enjoy bread, freedom and independence. A lot of donations poured in, but a lot of fat-cats “developed”!

The same joy took place following first Paris Protocol signed in 1995, which was no more than a summary of a book published after a long series of workshops took place at Harvard sponsored by the bourgeois economist Stanley Fischer, (currently the governor of the Bank of Israel). The attendants of the workshops were Israelis, Egyptians, Jordanians and Palestinians. One of the Palestinian participants was Dr. Omar Abdulraziq who became Minister of Finance in the first Hamas government. Now he is in an Israeli jail!

Despite the wide dissemination of information about corruption, the second Paris conference, at the end of year 2007, PA’s delegation estimates their needs of $5.4 billion, the donors were more than generous and promised $7.7 billion! It never happened that a beggar got one third more than he dreamt of. It is worth noting that he is looking for billions, not pocket money or a price of a meal.

From Peace for capital to a Regional capitalist Front
It is evident that Oslo, as “Peace for Capital”, benefits the capitalists of Israel and the PA areas. There’s no need to discuss the size of each share, but it is clear that the Palestinian comprador is satisfied by the trickle-down.

One of the results of the last year’s World Economic Forum which was held in Jordan is the establishment of the Israeli/Palestinian Business Council: IPBC. Those who signed that declaration emphasized that they will go on in economic cooperation, and they will never await politicians to make peace! But what they did not mention is that they will never await the Palestinian people to achieve the Right of Return (ROR), occupation withdrawal from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, or even the lifting of blockades between each Palestinian city to other villages and refugee camps. Yes capital can’t wait. Nazim Hikmat, the Marxist Turkish poet once said: “Those who have wool will never make clothes for those who haven’t”. But in the Palestinian case, it is the issue of Homeland, not joint ventures between citizens of countries who have normal relationships. The same, even names of Palestinian members in the IPBC are at the forefront of Bethlehem conference.

The Palestinian comprador goes now further. They decide to attract, or lure (God knows), Arab compradors to normalize with the Zionist regime. This is the main feature of the Bethlehem conference. It is the first time that Arab compradors attend in the open a joint conference within Occupied Palestine with Israeli capitalists.

The arrogant Zionists insist upon humiliating the inferior Arabs. They put up huge banners and signs at the entrances of Bethlehem and Jerusalem: Israeli Civil Administration and Israeli Defense Forces welcome the conference attendants, which means that this land is the “land of Israel”. Arab and Muslim capitalists are welcome first to normalize, second to invest and finally to pray.

But to talk direct economics, will Arab compradors invest in the Occupied Palestinian Territories? As long as it is an issue of money, they will look for the most feasible areas, which lie within the Israeli economy. Sure, they will not declare that now, but it will happen soon. My estimation is that even if some investments will take place in the OPTs, it will be a joint venture with Israeli capital[3] in addition to the fact that investors will buy from or through Israel everything they need. Many people are already exchanging rumors that the new city which might built in the West Bank is financed by Jewish capital and the broker is an ex PA official. Again, God only knows. Seventy percent of the supposed invested capital will be in dwellings.

One might ask, does it mean that Palestinian compradors are naïve since they never expect that the Zionist economy has more power of attraction and it will cash the money? Sure they are not, but they know that their trickle-down is guaranteed on the one hand and it is their role on the other, i.e., to facilitate normalization between Arabs and Israel. If not, the occupation will make troubles for their businesses which prosper because of their readiness to compromise. Otherwise, the Zionist regime will restrict their movement. Following the 1991 Madrid Conference and Oslo Accords the Zionist regime continuously declared that the region was embarking upon an era of peace, but Palestinians are still terrorists and their little piece of land, the PA areas are not secure. The result was foreign investment, and especially Foreign Direct Investment poured to the Zionist economy, more than $100 billion, but none of it was for the PA areas. Accordingly, the Bethlehem Conference is a chance for economic joint ventures between Zionist capital and that of the dependent Arab regimes. Then, why shouldn’t these two partners practice their love without the Palestinian servant? This is the core of normalization.

For sure some businesses will take place in the OPTs. One of the encouraging factors is the promised money in Paris Donors Conference of 2007, i.e., large amounts of it are to support the private sector. But to translate the term “private sector”, they are the same capitalists who are members in IPBC.  In this case, the new investors will not pay for costs of maintenance and building infrastructure. By the way, according to the US division of labor between old imperialists, Japanese imperialism concentrates in infrastructure, while EU imperialism is paying the salaries of the PA’s huge bureaucratic apparatus. What polite old imperialists! But, at the end of the day, the money that is devoted for the private sector is registered, if they are loans or donations, as assistance for the Palestinian people! Some people might say that, well, these projects will employ Palestinian workers. The PA’s Prime Minister said that the new investments would employ 35.000 workers, while the Minister of Communications and Technology said 60.000. Two notes are necessary here:

One: which is funny, that the comprador and the PA officials keep repeating “thanks to capitalists for employing workers”. By another token, “thanks for exploiting workers and extracting surplus value”!

Two: For decades Palestinians falls under a false impression that they have the highest level of education and skilled labor force. Both are false, especially that of the labor force. Those who work in collecting crops, furniture, blacksmithing, carpentry…etc., are not needed for even semi-developed industries. Accordingly, Palestinian workers will step onto the lowest rungs of the ladder.

Bush and the “Big Push”
The US president promises the Zionist regime that Arab regimes will normalize with it soon. In the last World Economic Forum in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, he ask Arab rulers to transcend their “anger” of Israel, as if the conflict is because they lost their people’s money in Las Vegas while gambling! If the president’s knowledge of the conflict is on this level, God Help America! The shame is that when Bush says that sort of thing, Arab rulers never argue or protest! For Bush, they are “Good Boys”. They never argue or get angry because dependents don’t dare argue with their protector.

To talk more seriously, Stanley Fisher, the Governor of the Bank of Israel confirms in the recent months that, despite of the fact that US share in Israeli foreign trade is large, 32%, taking into consideration that the US economy, the economy of the last resort, is still in crisis, he is quite confident that Arab regimes will soon trade with Israel and this will enable Israel itself to avoid a crisis.Where did Fisher get that reassurance from? The most acceptable scenario is that George Bush puts pressure on Arab rulers to normalize with the Zionist regime as soon as possible, i.e., before the end of his presidency. From his side, he will “donate” the Palestinians a “state”. In this context the Bethlehem Conference fits. While Arab normalization with the Zionist regime is taking place fast, there are no signs that “Bush’s state” is coming. Anyway, what Palestinians are looking for is the ROR, a homeland, not a state apparatus. It is clear that Bush will leave, Arab comprador normalization, especially in the economic field will materialize, and the state will never be born.

All Arab regimes whose nationals participate in Bethlehem conference are in fact normalizing with the Zionist regime, most of them from Arab Oil “pumping-not producing” countries, especially Qatar and United Arab Emirates[4]. Those regimes recently got a comparative advantage in the world market. While the world suffers the supply-side crisis, sky-rocketing oil and food prices, these regimes saturated with capital liquidity, a rent. That is why Zionist trade with these countries is a matter of life or death. One might ask, how about the Saudis? This depends on how the US divides labor between its Arab dependents. Saudi Arabia’s role now is to charge and re-charge naïve Muslim Sunnis to fight Muslim Shiites, to fight Hezbollah, Iran, Hamas[5] and even Syria. That is why it must maintain a relatively clean face by avoiding direct normalization with the Zionists.

Arab trade with Israel jumped in 2006-2007 by 42.8%. Countries who are not oil pumping ones, i.e., Egypt and Jordan, doubled the size of their trade with the Zionist regime in 2006 from $250 to $531 million despite of the aggression against Lebanon. Israeli/Jordanian trade jumped from $174.8 to $306.9, and that of Egypt rose from $203.9 to $234.1 in the same period. Another four Arab states, two of them from the Gulf, insist upon hiding their trade relationship with the Zionist regime. (Al-Auds Daily, 10-2-2008).

To what extent will Bush’s promise to the Zionists materialize? It depends on the results of the main battle between globalism and resistance[6] from Baghdad to Gaza[7].  While Arab people dream of unity, Arab compradors strengthen their internal fragmentation, supporting Israeli Integration Through Domination (ITD) in the region, and rescuing the US gradual, but sure, defeated capitalism in Latin America[8].