Palestinians Dismiss Economic Portion of Kushner Plan as Dead-on-Arrival Failure
- Palestinians Dismiss Economic Portion of Kushner Plan as Dead-on-Arrival Failure
by Jon Queally, staff writer, https://www.commondreams.org/
“Kushner can’t tell us he cares about ending poverty for Palestinians while inflicting more poverty on them.”
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The economic proposal purportedly designed to help foment Israeli-Palestinian peace and made public over the weekend by Jared Kushner, top advisor and son-in-law to President Donald Trump, fell predictably flat as Palestinians rejected it immediately as not tethered to reality and an insult to those who continue to struggle while living under the U.S.-backed military occupation of the Israelis.
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Part of what has become know as Kushner’s “Deal of the Century” proposal to end the Israel-Palestine conflict, it was treated as largely unserious by Palestinians and those who advocate for their liberation. According to Reuters:
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The “peace to prosperity” plan, set to be presented by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner at an international conference in Bahrain next week, includes 179 infrastructure and business projects, according to details of the plan and interviews with U.S. officials. The approach towards reviving the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process was criticized by the Palestinians on Saturday.
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The ambitious economic revival plan, the product of two years of work by Kushner and other aides, would take place only if a political solution to the region’s long-running problems is reached.
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More than half of the $50 billion would be spent in the economically troubled Palestinian territories over 10 years while the rest would be split between Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. Some of the projects would be in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, where investments could benefit Palestinians living in adjacent Gaza, a crowded and impoverished coastal enclave.
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The answer from Palestinians—abrupt and dismissive—was emphatic: the proposal is a nonstarter. “Palestine is not for sale,” said the Hamas government in Gaza in response.
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