Palestinian economic projects hailed as 'strong beginning'
Tony Blair press conference, Jerusalem, 19th November 2007:
To create lasting peace, three things must happen:
- a clear political vision of a two-state solution;
- the building of Palestinian capacity and institutions of governance, because statehood is about more than geography and territory;
- and the facts on the ground must not contradict the process of state building, but enhance it and support it economically.
Today, we focus on the third aspect: creating more jobs, and greater prosperity for ordinary Palestinians on the ground. In doing this, we do not separate the economic from the political, or either from the security concerns, but we simply say, in parallel with the Annapolis and Paris Conferences, which focus on the politics and the capacity building, we should give impetus to economic progress. Obviously, all three aspects continue to be linked. The greater the political progress, the easier the economic progress. The greater the Palestinian capability on security, the easier the politics and the economics.
But getting investment projects going matters in itself. And that’s what we are doing today.
Prime Minister Fayyad, Defence Minister Barak and myself are all committed to doing what we can to boost the Palestinian economy.
We have today “greenlighted’ four such projects. All have been debated for some time. Now all can be given the go-ahead to happen. We will meet again in December before the Paris conference and discuss progress and hopefully greenlight more. Some we can list as under active consideration. Others we don’t mention today but we are working on. Others, we can add, as momentum builds.
I would like to thank both leaders for their leadership. Prime Minister Fayyad is determined to revive the Palestinian economy. Defence Minister Barak is determined to help, consistent with maintaining Israel’s security.
Since many of the projects require close security analysis, that’s why I asked Defence Minister Barak to be part of this process. But I also thank Minister Herzog for his help.
So, I will not exaggerate the significance of today. It is not a substitute for the politics. It will not, by itself, transform the future. But it is a strong beginning for what is a critical part of the whole process. And without hope of prosperity, rising living standards, and an economic stake in the future for ordinary Palestinians, the politics will never succeed.
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Palestinian economic projects hailed as 'strong beginning'