Upon leaving the World Bank on May 31, 2005, Wolfensohn became special envoy for Gaza disengagement for the Quartet on the Middle East, in which he was to help coordinate Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and to spearhead reconstruction efforts as the Palestinians assumed sovereignty over the area. Citing frustration with the stymied road map process, he announced that he would not continue on past his original one-year commitment, and left the post on April 30, 2006.
The Media Line: When Israel unilaterally pulled out from the Gaza Strip, there was a sense of cautious optimism that you apparently shared. What went wrong?
Wolfensohn: Well, I think that two things went wrong. We established a basis for economic activity in Gaza, which had intended to be based first on agriculture, taking over the greenhouses that had previously been used by Israelis in the area. And secondly, a major potential for tourism, because the coastline is wonderful and really could be a place for both Israelis and Palestinians to have holidays. So we started growing the first crops and we had plans, beautiful plans for hotels and development in the region and then very sadly, violence broke out and that inhibited both things...
And the second thing was, once the violence started, the [Israeli] military then closed the border for all but the most essential items. So the greenhouses, which had started with such hope, became impossible to develop, because they were growing far too many fruits and vegetables for local consumption. And so they were just rotting, and it was tragic to see.
So without economic activity and without travel, you couldn't have hotels, you couldn't fulfill any of the dreams. So it was a wonderful dream for a short while, which had included linkages between Gaza and the West Bank, which had included a port, which had included getting the airport going again. We had so many hopes and very sadly, the violence killed it.
Israelis who opposed additional territorial concessions point to the Gaza withdrawal as their proof positive that Hamas militancy is unrelated to land. How do you respond?
I think that's not correct. There was a moment - and I'm not totally naïve because I have visited 130 countries and worked in some of them, post-conflict zones. I believe if you can get economic activity going, you have a basis for not only development, but for peace, and I think most people want peace.
I personally don't think that Hamas at that time was setting out to blow the whole thing up. I think there were mutual mistakes made. Maybe the Gaza withdrawal was premature in terms of preparing the public. My own view was there was a tremendous desire on the part of the Palestinians who were in Gaza to have a peaceful and real economic development.
I do not say for a moment that there were not extremists who would have wanted to blow it up, both emotionally and physically, and that there were not people who didn't want to see peace. I have no doubt that there were some, just as there were on the Israeli side who didn't want to see the development of this location. But several things happened. We had the sickness of the prime minister [Ariel Sharon] here. We had a change in control of the Palestinians, an election [that Hamas won in January 2006] and I'm afraid the dreams we had that November [2005] were not fulfilled.
We see numerous examples of private-sector entrepreneurs investing in Palestinian entities. We even see Israelis participating in some cases. Can private-sector investment become a stronger force in promoting cooperation than governmental obstacles are in preventing it?
I don't know if it can be a stronger force, but it is a growing force here. Even in the last year or two, while I have no official position, I have been engaged in discussions with both Israelis and Palestinians, to inform me of initiatives that are already being taken, a lot of them under the radar screen. But I think it's hugely important that they continue. And basically you should understand that the majority of Israelis and the majority of Palestinians would like to have peace and would like to have business.
It's not always reflected in the leadership and in public policy, but all the polls show, or have shown up until now, that the average Israeli and the average Palestinian would just like to get on with it. And get rid of all the tension and get back to living. And that's not a surprising human reaction.
In this region, you hear over and over about the political process. Do you think the economic process is going to prevail, the one that's going to create a Palestinian state?
I think it's a very important consideration and it has a major chance of helping things. But if you have a million plus people living behind a wall, with nothing going in and out, unless it's in tunnels or unless it's for hospitals or for emergency use. And if you have 60 percent unemployment, that is not a recipe for any sort of future, except anger, frustration and violence.
Politically, if both sides stand on their red lines and don't budge an inch, how can they continue in the process?
Well that's why I feel that I, in the period that I was here, failed, because we had that hope of peace and everyone was thrilled with it and then it collapsed and then, for various reasons, the negotiations did not take a form that I'd hope they might, and both sides went their own way. In my opinion, now not involved in any official capacity, just as a citizen of the world if you like, I think that is tragic because if it goes that way, you will never have peace.
We hear politicians speak endlessly about separation... Do you argue that peace demands separation or cooperation?
Peace, I think, demands both things. I think you want to give a sense of security to the people on both sides. My experience with Arabs and my experience with Jews is that they are not terribly different. They all love their families. They all want to have a quiet life and their instinct is not to go out and shoot somebody. They've lived together for generations, for centuries and they didn't shoot each other. They may have had differences but they didn't shoot each other...
