Customer Reviews

A Very Political Economy: Peacebuilding and Foreign Aid in the West Bank and Gaza

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Professor Brynen has produced here a in-depth study of the role that foreign investment funds played in the pursuit of the elusive "peace dividend" after the Oslo Process. Very simply, his thesis is that, in spite of the numerous logistical obstacles to disbursement that arose, as well as the disturbing frequency of graft and nepotistic practices in the disbursement, these investment funds served a positive function.

Under the terms of the Declaration of Principles, signed in 1993, a body of funds was established, into which the donor nations made payment. The funds were then to be distributed to deserving projects in the Palestinian Territories (West Bank and Gaza Strip) with the said purpose of ameliorating living conditions there, and endeavouring to produce some sense of a tangible benefit resulting from the peace process (co-optation, also, of spoilers)...hence the term "peace dividend". Though this dividend did not materialise, and has not materialised, due to a myriad of reasons, these investment funds nonetheless aided in creating a marginally more stable environment in which the Palestinian Authority could function.

This is a lucid, insightful scholarly analysis, and a deserving resource for all students of Near Eastern Affairs and for all readers taking an interest in the region. Highly recommended.

The Problem with this book is that it does not consider the fact that money is fungible, and as such has been used not only for graft, but to purchase weapons that defeat the very peace it it supposed to build. With Arab Palestinians now armed to the teeth, with rockets that can reach the heart of Israel, we can and should start to take off our blinders about the harm that has been done by the international welfare system created to support this people. For it is not supporting the people, it is not bettering their lives. Rather, the money has been used to line the pockets of corrupt fasict leaders, whose sole purpose remains the complete cultural, economic and military destruction of the Jewish state. Would it were not so, but those are the facts that this author and too many press pundits ignore.