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March 11, 2005/Adar I 30 5765, Volume 57, No. 28
Palestinian economy affects Israel's future
DINA KRAFT
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Leo Kramer wants American Jews to think more about morality, the Torah and good business sense when it comes to relations with the Palestinians.
The Washington-based businessman says there will be hope for Israel only when the Palestinians themselves can hope for a better future - which, he argues, must be rooted in a stable Palestinian economy.
"American Jews should apply the Torah and the American tradition of how people are treated to the Israeli situation. In doing so they will help the Israelis have a better life," Kramer said in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency while on a recent trip to Israel.
Kramer, 78, who has testified on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before the U.S. Senate, is a veteran importer and exporter who has negotiated trade deals with various Third World nations.
He says Israelis and American Jews must stop blaming the Palestinians for the conflict and look to what they have the power to do to change the situation.
Kramer is working on two major projects that were put on hold since the intifada began in September 2000. The first is a college in the Gaza Strip, to be built under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Education. The school will teach management and offer courses on marketing, purchasing and running a factory.
He also is involved with plans to build a plant near the West Bank city of Ramallah that will produce and package olive oil for American and British markets. The plant is projected to employ about 50 people.
Kramer first became outspoken about Israeli treatment of Palestinians 12 years ago, after visiting the Gaza Strip for the first time. Seeing the poverty and the Israeli army's treatment of Palestinians "was a terrible shock," he said.
He was disheartened to see Palestinian farmers who had to choose, he says, between leaving oranges to rot on trees or selling them below market price to Israel's produce monopoly.
How the Palestinian economy fares will help determine Israel's future, and how the Israelis treat the Palestinians is the key to solving the conflict, according to Kramer.
"The bottom line is I don't think our people will have a happy life until they also have a happy life," he said.
Labor Party legislator Efraim Sneh, who has known Kramer for several years, agrees.
"I share his main ideas that without economic growth, there is no chance of a peace process with the Palestinians, and that a sound economic basis is crucial for all possible political solutions," Sneh said.
Others, however, note the massive corruption under the late Palestinian Authority president, Yasser Arafat, when hundreds of millions of dollars were diverted to private bank accounts or to terrorist operatives.
"There is little Israel could have done under circumstances of massive corruption," said historian Michael Oren, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.
"There is no sure-fire connection between employment, income levels and terror," Oren said.
Kramer faults the organized Jewish world for not thinking out of the box and for not taking Israel to task on ethical issues.
Kramer declared, "You cannot be the strongest, the wealthiest, the greatest military power, the one with the most money and most experience" and then put the blame for the conflict on the other side.
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