Haaretz
Tevet 10, 5765
Disengagement is insufficient if it does not also
give hope to the Palestinians, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said
in an interview with Haaretz yesterday.
Wolfensohn is here to meet
with Israeli and Palestinian officials and obtain their reactions to the
World Bank's plan for rehabilitating the Palestinian economy after the
pullout.
"What we did in the paper that we prepared was to simply
say, look, if you are trying to withdraw [from Gaza], that's a wonderful
thing, but if you don't give hope at the same time ... you're not really
achieving very much," he said.
The Palestinian Authority currently
receives $930 million a year in international aid, and the World Bank
wants to raise this by $500 million. But it recommended conditioning the
increase on Israel removing checkpoints and closures, and on the PA
instituting economic, legal and security reforms.
Wolfensohn,
however, dislikes the term "conditions."
"What we were trying to do
... was to say in a neutral way what we think the facts are," he said.
"And the facts are that if we go out and raise money for a strengthening
of a Palestinian area or a state, the only way to get money for that is
(if) that area is viable. Not only economically viable, but ... [you need]
to restore the possibility of hope for young Palestinians. I don't think
any signature or any agreement has much strength - you know, young
Palestinians are like young Israelis ... They want an opportunity, they
want a future and most of them want peace. So what you need to do is to
create an atmosphere in Gaza and the [West Bank] [where] they can look
forward to peace. The donors, essentially, today, having gone through
intifada, are going to want to feel that if they put in an additional $500
million a year ... that it is being done seriously and with an opportunity
for a viable area. That's just common sense, that's not
conditions."
Wolfensohn opposes Israel's plan for economic
separation from the Palestinians following the disengagement. He is also
unenthusiastic about an Israeli proposal to use international donations to
rehabilitate Palestinian refugee camps.
"I call them feel-good
projects; they make you feel good and do good things ... but it's not
enough. It has to be in the context of something," he added.