Former General Security Service (GSS) chief Ami Ayalon is opposed to economic separation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). At the Ministry of Finance budget department’s annual seminar Ayalon said that Israel and the PA are “Siamese twins” who cannot be torn apart. He maintained that even if fences were set up, it would be impossible to establish total separation between the Israeli and the Palestinian economies.
Ayalon added, “Economic separation and fences aren’t the best model in the Middle East reality. We should bear in mind that whatever we decide to do will have an impact on us, and that there’s a limit to power and to the degree of pain we can inflict on each other without a boomerang effect. Total separation will guarantee that the Palestinians will take action against us for lack of choice.”
Ayalon said that the method of transferring goods from one truck to another does not make sense economically. Referring to the complex security checks undergone by Palestinian seeking to work in Israel, he said, “It’s a protracted nightmare experience liable to drive people to despair.”
The former GSS chief stressed that the public debate on economic separation is part of the debate on the nature of Israeli democracy and is also due to security considerations. “The question is how democratic we are and how Jewish should Israel be. This is the dilemma we’ve always sought to put off, but today’s reality makes it impossible to further postpone a decision. All the decisions bearing on the continuation of the diplomatic process are part of the decision on the nature of Israeli democracy,” Ayalon said.
Ministry of Finance director general Avraham Ben-Bassat said that drying out the PA is inconceivable, and that the PA cannot be left without infrastructures, vital services and employment solutions, due to the PA’s total dependence on Israel. He pointed out that Palestinian workers’ earnings from work in Israel make up about 25% of the Palestinian GDP.
Ben-Bassat assessed that total economic separation from the PA will not cause great damage to Israel’s economy, but will be critical to the PA’s economy. He added that the Israeli economy will be able to put right whatever damage it suffers, but the damage inflicted on the Palestinian economy will be long-term.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 4 December, 2000