Kushner’s “economic peace” plan repeatedly claims that occupied Palestine can model itself after Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. That’s certainly ambitious — but also ignorant, absurd and even dangerous.
By Teresita Cruz-del Rosario and Victor Kattan | Haaretz | Jul 4, 2019
The lessons of these Asian economic success stories is fairly straightforward: sovereignty was key to transforming these states into Asian economic power houses embedded in strong states that could drive development policies.
Jared Kushner’s glossy “economic peace” plan has been widely, although not universally, panned.
Critics have attacked the plan from innumerable angles: from the photographs used to promote it, culled from USAID programs whose funding had been ended by the Trump administration, to the recycling of old, largely discredited ideas, associated with previous Israeli and US plans that promoted economic development before a political plan.
None of these peace plans, including those that prioritized economic development ahead of a political program, have worked.
One key claim of the plan, largely overlooked by critics, are Kushner’s case studies, which are repeatedly referenced throughout the document: Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.
These case studies are central to Kushner’s economic plan. If the models as analogies to Palestine do not work, then it could be argued, neither can his peace plan.
As we shall argue, Kushner’s attempt to apply Asian economic success stories to Palestine is like comparing apples to oranges.
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