World Bank: Palestinians more dependent on international aid

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Palestinians are becoming more dependent on foreign aid, mainly due to a sluggish economy stifled by continued Israeli restrictions on trade and movement, the World Bank said in a report published Wednesday. The bank prepared the report for a meeting of key donor country representatives during the UN General Assembly in New York this month. The report counters a key assumption of international policy - that the current massive aid to the Palestinians would stimulate their economy and make them increasingly less dependent on foreign money in the future. A three-year plan for Palestinian economic recovery was launched in December in Paris, and was based on three elements - Palestinian government reform, a pledge of $7.7 billion in foreign aid through 2010 and a significant easing of Israeli movement restrictions. However, the bank said that while the Palestinians have moved forward with reform and the donors have delivered significant sums of aid, Israel has only removed a few obstacles and its economic restrictions on the Palestinians have increased.