MIFTAH
Friday, 29 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

Remarks by Tim Rothermel
Former UNDP Representative to the Occupied Territories CNI Public Hearing – January 17, 2006

Based on living in Palestine for virtually the past decade, and being a frequent visitor there for over twenty-five years, I would like to share with you some thoughts about this extraordinary place and these extraordinary people. There is ample evidence of many failures. Failure in the peace process which many can attribute to one side or the other; failure in the Palestinian economy which was recently described by my friend, Nigel Roberts of the World Bank, as being “on the verge of functional bankruptcy”; decreasing internal mobility; pessimism about what may follow next week’s Palestinian Legislative Council elections; and a stunning unemployment rate of over 70% of young Palestinians between the ages of 16 to 25. All are indicators of what the development community would call a failed state with little hope for the future, few prospects for foreign investment and a population with increasing numbers living below the poverty line.

In my view, however, reaching such a conclusion would be premature because of the enormous resilience of the Palestinian people, their ability to cope and adapt, their capable human and institutional resources, their future economic potential and many of the accomplishments that have taken place since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Failures grab headlines and sound bites but successes rarely do. Put another way, Paul Hoffman, the first Administrator of UNDP, was known for saying, “burn down a school and you’ll be in the headlines, but building one hardly rates a mention next to the obituaries”.

During the past decade and in spite of occupation, in spite of intensified closures, in spite of high demographic growth, there are many unheralded bright spots. And it is important to remember that unlike any other country in the world, Palestine is not a state, it is probably the only country in the world that does not yet have an idea about its borders, did not know its population until five years ago, is under foreign occupation, and in which the movement of both goods and people is very highly restricted.

To cite a few examples, Palestinians continue to have the highest literacy rates in the region, its high school dropout rate is the lowest in the region, its elementary schools in both Gaza and the West Bank have dramatically reduced the number of double shifts with the construction of new schools, it will soon have computers in every school and trained information technology teachers throughout the public school system, and its eleven universities continue to fully function. The recently established and only School of Medicine at Al Quds University has been described to me by the Chairman of its British Board of Overseers as one that provides training comparable to that of any UK institution. The International Law Center at Bir Zeit University continues to attract students and faculty from around the world and the number of young Palestinian students earning scholarships for university studies abroad continues to increase.

In terms of culture, thanks to the work of the PA Ministry of Tourism and Culture, several Palestinian sites are well on their way to inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the country’s first national parks have been established, a state of the art national cultural center has been constructed in Ramallah with several others in other municipalities, and new institutions such as a National Art Museum and a Virtual Art Library are up and running. Literally scores of historic buildings have been restored or are under restoration, ranging from Jerusalem’s Old City, Rafah’s Crusader Castle and Bethlehem’s inner city. Last month some of you may have seen the performance in Washington of the Palestinian El Funoun National Dance Troupe, which was acclaimed by both the New York Times and ABC news…and it is but one of many similar organizations that not only preserve a long national cultural identity but also foster new talent and new forms of artistic expression.

In terms of foreign investment, nothing near the hopes of a decade ago has materialized, nor will it under current conditions, but this has not impeded domestic investments and plans for development. The shells of multi-million dollar hotels on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast are today empty but ready to be opened with financing from indigenous or expatriate Palestinians if tourists are permitted to visit. Ramallah boasts a new shopping center that is on a par – fast food and children’s play areas included – with that of any similar sized city in the United States. The Palestinian Legislative Council some years ago enacted one of the world’s most attractive investment codes for foreign investors and, should conditions permit, there are numerous investment opportunities that have been identified by the Palestinians themselves in their market economy such as the pharmaceutical, stone, agricultural and tourism industries. The term “facts on the ground” is frequently heard in the context of the geography of the Israeli/Palestinian situation, but other “facts on the ground” have also been firmly created by the Palestinians themselves in anticipation of their future state.

Turning to the area of human rights and gender equality, I personally am unaware of any area outside the occupied Palestinian territory that has more indigenous organizations dealing with these issues. Two of them of which I am proud, MIFTAH (The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy), headed by Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, and AMAN (The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity), which has recently become a national chapter of Transparency International, were established with both financial and human resources provided through UNDP. In addition, national human rights protection systems are currently in the process of being strengthened with the Palestinian Legislative Council’s and President’s endorsement of legislation governing the work of the Palestinian Independent Commission of Citizens’ Rights, which monitors progress towards human rights protection, gender equality and good governance. A year ago UNDP’s former gender program specialist was appointed as the first Minister of Women’s Affairs in Palestine and that Ministry has been provided with the resources to have a substantial rather than a superficial impact.

In terms of human freedoms, and the most important, the freedom of choice, upcoming elections are a clear example of the choices before an electorate that citizens of few other countries in the region enjoy, not to mention a Presidential election a year ago where the winning candidate had a plurality of some 62% of the vote. The Palestinian Central Elections Commission has been modeled with state of the art technology and an infusion of best practices from similar bodies worldwide. To get a sense of its sophistication, have a look at its bilingual website, www.elections.ps. There is complete freedom of the press in Palestine, save for the largest of its daily newspapers, “Al-Quds” the editions of which, since it is based in Jerusalem, have a nightly inspection by Israeli censors; and there are scores of independent radio and television stations broadcast throughout the country.

In terms of the Palestinian economy, it is, of course, in extremely poor shape. But its resilience has reflected patterns of adaptation to the pressures and constraints of the renewed conflict, in particular the loss of internal mobility, and the disruption of historic employment links with Israel. For example, the loss of some 80,000 Palestinian jobs in Israel after the onset of the Intifida was compensated for by the creation of a similar number of jobs within the occupied Palestinian territory, albeit at lower wage levels. Under the leadership of its Minister of Finance, Dr. Salam Fayyed, vigorous reforms have been undertaken to eliminate corruption, abolish monopolies and to bring Palestinian Authority financial institutions in line with international standards.

Insofar as public institutions are concerned, in my view, the progress has been nothing short of spectacular. In spite of numerous shortcomings, the Palestinian Authority – which governs a territory that, again, is not a state and under occupation – has created in just over a decade a system of viable public entities. I have referred earlier to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Central Elections Commission, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Ministry of Finance, but there is also a Central Bureau of Statistics which is considered by the United Nations to be as effective as any national statistical bureau; a Ministry of Education and Higher Education that has performed remarkably in spite of challenges; an effective Environmental Quality Authority which, for example, along with UNDP, has successfully completed Global Environment Facility activities that experts claimed would be impossible in the circumstances; a newly reformed Ministry of Foreign Affairs about which Ambassador Safieh is better informed that I; and a Ministry of Local Government that has instituted a highly successful process of decentralization and empowerment of local communities.

Since the May 2002 call by President Bush for democratic reform of Palestinian Authority institutions and regime change as necessary to achieve the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, representatives of the international donor community working in the occupied Palestinian territory has had a formal mechanism to monitor and support the reform process. Seven groups composed of different organizations were tasked to monitor reform in seven sectors: Local Government, Judiciary and Rule of Law, Legislature, Market Economy, Elections, Public Administration and Civil Service, and Financial Accountability. My colleagues and I were actively engaged in each of these sectoral efforts, and while it has not caught headlines, I can report that there has been astonishing progress. Even within the past month, the area of slowest progress – Judiciary and the Rule of Law – has shown progress in breaking an impasse between the Palestinian Ministry of Justice and its Supreme Judicial Council.

I have cited these few examples, and there are many more, based on my privilege of being associated with Palestinians and their institutions, to shed some light on what seems to be an aspect of the future for economic development in the West Bank and Gaza that may be overlooked in the broader political debate. It would be wrong not to acknowledge that of course there has been corruption, of course there have been mistakes and missed opportunities, and of course the progress that I have sought to describe has come about with substantial international development aid. But frankly I cannot think of any societies which can claim zero corruption, zero mistakes and zero missed opportunities. I have used these examples, however, to attempt to illustrate what a vibrant, innovative, dynamic, productive, democratic and secular society Palestine has the potential to become if given the opportunity. And frankly, to a very large degree, the answer as to whether that opportunity will someday be provided to the Palestinians rests not so much with the Israelis or the Palestinians, but with decisions made here in this historic building where we are now gathered.

 
 
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