The Palestinians are living a classic case of “which came first, the chicken or the egg?”. Are we a government or are we an oppressed people under occupation, struggling for their independence? This quandary has plagued the Palestinians ever since the inception of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 when late President Yasser Arafat returned from exile to “rule” the Palestinian areas supposedly liberated from Israeli occupation.

Hence, for over a decade, the Palestinian leadership has not yet decided what it wants to be. While the agreements that allowed the PA to come into being, such as the Oslo Accords, provided the Palestinians with all the trappings of a state, the reality on the ground posed a different picture. While the Palestinians – people and leadership – were under the false pretense that these agreements would eventually lead to their independence on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 War, the reality was that the Israeli occupation was only further consolidated, albeit dressed in different robes.

So, while Israel continued with its plans, most of them hatched as early as the 40s, to grab more West Bank land and reinforce their control over Jerusalem ahead of any final agreement with the Palestinians, the latter was deluded into thinking that they were now a self-ruling government focused on institution-building.

Today, the ramifications of this delusion are clearer than ever. A three day conference is now underway in Bethlehem entitled the “Palestine Investment Conference.” in which dozens of international and local companies are participating to showcase the investment potentials in Palestine and to hopefully attract foreign and Arab investors to sink their teeth into this tiny part of the world.

According to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, “The time has come to invest in Palestine…This conference is a chance to show a different face of Palestine: a Palestine conducive to economic growth and international investment.”

While this positive outlook is enviable, is it based in reality? Yes, building an independent Palestinian economy not dependent on Israel or on foreign aid and imports is extremely important if Palestine is ever to stand on its own two feet. However, what gargantuan task needs to be accomplished first – economic growth or political stability and independence from a foreign occupier.

The best indicator of the present is the past. The Palestinians should really take their cue from the situation that developed following the Oslo Accords. In the eight or so years following the return of the Palestinian leadership to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, investment in Palestine was literally booming. Not only did international investors begin pouring money into the occupied territories but many Palestinian expatriates decided to return to their motherland, bringing their years of money-making with them. The Plaza Shopping Mall in Ramallah was a case in point, the first Western-style shopping center in Palestine. The brainchild of Palestinian-American returnee Sam Bahhur, the mall was opened in 2003 even though it was slated to open almost two years earlier. The $10.2 million venture was a huge success at first, with 40 stores scheduled to open gradually.

Today, many of the these stores have shut down, the downstairs supermarket the only seemingly profitable venue in addition to Jawwal Land, the children’s entertainment area upstairs. Many of Palestine’s other investors have met the same plight following the escalating violence that gripped the Palestinian territories since September 2000. All it took was a few months of Israeli bombing, closures and checkpoints to basically put a match to the heaps of dollars so hopefully invested in what was to be the future Palestinian state.

Today, the situation has only worsened. In order to attend the Palestine Investment Conference, one must actually be able to reach Bethlehem. For Palestinians, the most direct route through Jerusalem is not an option with all the airtight checkpoints clamped around its entrances that prohibit Palestinians (except those with the rare Israeli permit) from entering the Israeli occupied city. This means they need to use alternative routes, long, circuitous roads riddled with more Israeli checkpoints before they can get to Bethlehem. For those less fortunate who have not been able to obtain an Israeli permit and cannot travel freely throughout the West Bank, attending the conference is simply out of the question.

This begs the question of how economic growth can occur in a place where enthusiastic investors cannot even reach the conference to map out the potentials. Bethlehem, in all meanings of the word, is still under Israeli occupation .While Israeli soldiers may not roam the streets day and night like they did before the inception of the PA, Israel retains its right to besiege, invade, arrest or kill any Palestinian in the city it deems threatening to the security of its state. We all remember then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s F-16s and Apache helicopters dropping bombs on PA installments including the Yasser Arafat International Airport in Gaza, generously funded by Japan, Germany, Spain and Arab countries. What will stop Israel from repeating its actions today, once these investors decide to open their wallets to the Palestinians again?

This criticism is not to be misunderstood as a criticism of promoting economic growth in Palestine. However, viable and sustainable economic growth can only be realized upon the creation of a stable and viable Palestinian state, which is ruled by a sovereign government. Otherwise, even the most prosperous of economic growth will be dependent on the whims of the occupying Israeli authority, the besieged Gaza Strip being a perfect example of how the situation so quickly spiraled downward.

For now, the Palestinians should formulate a solid economic plan that would go hand in hand with negotiating efforts to resolve the conflict. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We cannot ignore the faltering negotiations on all significant issues such as Jerusalem, refugees and borders. We cannot ignore the fact that the Gaza Strip is still under a strangulating closure, that settlement construction is continuing in the West Bank and Jerusalem and that Israel has no intention of allowing a free and geographically contiguous Palestinian state to come into being.

Nevertheless, the prospect of economic growth and prosperity is one that the Palestinians are desperately in need of. If the conference can offer some glimpse into this prospect and the Palestinian government keeps the ultimate goal of gaining independence before them, then we are at least moving in the right direction.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Programme at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mip@miftah.org.