A report on the Palestinian economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes that the reconstruction of Gaza is progressing slowly because certain donors—read: Arab states—have failed to deliver on their pledges of aid. Whether or not that is the real cause, Elliott Abrams welcomes the report’s practical suggestions for improving the situation:
During the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations the United States has sought a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the PLO, and failed to achieve this time after time. There has been a real opportunity cost from this search for a final-status agreement complete with handshakes on the White House lawn and Nobel prizes. The cost has been that [the U.S.] focused solely on the diplomatic process and largely ignored real life as it is lived by Palestinians, and [how it] might be improved.
The IMF report shows that much could be done, even within current constraints, to improve the Palestinian economy. It’s undramatic, the details are boring, and some of the analyses are technical. No prizes, no time on the evening news. But that is how Palestinian institutions will be built, and how the institutions of a state must come into existence—not at the State Department and not at the United Nations.
Read more on Pressure Points: http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2015/05/20/imf-realism-about-the-west-bank-and-gaza/