Jerusalem: Israel’s finance minister is seeking to drum up American and European support for a plan to boost the Palestinian economy in the West Bank – something he thinks will benefit Israel as well.
After more than three years of meetings with Palestinian officials, Moshe Kahlon, who is also leader of the centrist Kulanu party, is pushing a plan to build joint industrial zones, ease movement out of the West Bank and allow the Palestinian Authority to collect its own customs taxes.
He is due to discuss the plan with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace envoy, later this month in Washington. The Trump team has pushed the notion that improving Palestinians’ standard of living will help create conditions for peace, and has pressed Israel for proposals.
“It isn’t always visible, but the economy makes an important contribution to what’s going on,” Kahlon said. “I’m a great believer in political process through economy.”
Read the articl by Gwen Ackerman in The Sydney Morning Herald.