Abstract
Will progress in the Middle East Peace Process spur regional integration? Peace would, theoretically, increase Israeli-Arab trade by removing the political motivations behind Arab economic sanctions against Israel. It could also reduce strategic motives for state intervention in economic affairs in Arab countries, which could lead to a generally more liberal economic order throughout the region. Many people in most camps believe this would be an unqualified good. Indeed, many observers go further by arguing that active policies promoting regional trade agreements between Israel and its more distant Gulf Arab neighbors are needed to facilitate the Peace Process. Others, especially on the leftist and nationalist sides of Arab politics, argue that a resolution of the Palestinian question should not include creation and promotion of trade structures facilitating Israeli commercial and economic domination of the Middle East.
Another version of this chapter was presented at the Cairo University Conference on Regional Cooperation in the Middle East (1993) and was later published in The Beirut Review in 1995. This version was updated for republication in this collection, with permission from the Review. The views expressed here reflect those of the authors and not those of the World Bank or its Board of Trustees.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
See G. Abed (ed.), The Palestinian Economy: Studies in Development Under Prolonged Occupation (New York: Routledge, 1988);
E. Kleinman, ‘Economic Independence of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Israel’, Working Paper no. 220 (Bethlehem: Hebrew University, 1992);
The World Bank, ‘Developing the Occupied Territories: An Investment in Peace’, (a six volume series) (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1993); I. Diwan and M. Walton, ‘Palestine: From Dependent to Autonomous Growth’, Finance and Development (Fall 1994).
G. Abed, ‘The Economic Viability of a Palestinian State’, IPS Papers (Washington DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1990); see also the papers in G. Abed (ed.), The Palestinian Economy, and Kleinman, ‘Economic Independence’.
A. A. Shokor, The Labor Market in the East Bank and Gaza (in Arabic) (Al-Najah University, 1987); along with Diwan and Walton, ‘Palestine: From Dependent to Autonomous Growth’.
I. Diwan and L. Squire, ‘Financial Flows in the Middle East’, Working Paper no. 3 (Cairo: Economic Research Forum, 1994).
D. Razin and E. Sadka, The Economy of Modern Israel: Malaise and Promise (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993). After a recession in 1987–89, real GDP growth averaged 6 percent a year in 1990–93. But given that population has risen by about 10 percent between 1990–92, growth was relatively small on a per capita basis (about one percent a year).
On the impact of increased Russian immigration, see K. Flug, N. Kasir, and G. Ofer, ‘The Absorption of Soviet Immigrants into the Labor Market from 1990 Onward: Aspects of Occupational Substitution and Retention’, Working Paper no 9213 (Jerusalem: Bank of Israel, November 1992).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2002 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Diwan, I., Walton, M. (2002). Between Jordan and Israel: the Economics of Palestine’s Uneasy Triangle. In: Wright, J.W. (eds) Structural Flaws in the Middle East Peace Process. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403907707_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403907707_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-40908-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4039-0770-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)