Before Trump’s ‘Riviera’, there was a development plan for Gaza - Israel scuppered it

Palestinians gather for Iftar, in Gaza City, surrounded by the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings, on March 6. AP

When I first heard US President Donald Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” scheme, it brought back memories of the hopes Palestinians had three decades ago during the heyday of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Back then, I was serving as co-chair of “Builders for Peace”, a project launched by then US vice president Al Gore to encourage American businesses to invest in the Palestinian economy in order to support the fledgling peace process.

During BfP’s three-year tenure, we led a number of US business delegations to the Occupied Palestinian Territories and we accompanied Mr Gore and then secretary of commerce, Ron Brown, on others. These visits elicited an enthusiastic response from the American and Palestinian business leaders.

Plans were discussed to develop factories in Gaza to assemble luggage and furniture for export to Eastern Europe; to open franchises of US companies in the West Bank; water purification and waste recycling projects in Gaza; and a new community of moderately priced housing in the West Bank. These projects had the support of both the US president and vice president and Brown's enthusiastic backing.

Palestinian Muslims wait in the rain to cross an Israeli checkpoint in Qalandia in the occupied West Bank to attend the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem, on March 7. AFP

Nevertheless, they all collapsed for several reasons. A few examples will suffice. Israel would not guarantee either the Palestinians nor their intended US partners the right to freely import raw materials or export finished products unless they had an Israeli middleman as a partner. Because of the increased costs this would entail, prospective American investors lost interest.

The restrictions on Palestinian movement and commerce both between the West Bank and Gaza and within the West Bank itself was another factor that discouraged foreign investment. This meant that Palestinian enterprises could not benefit from economies of scale that would come from the development of an internal market and would therefore remain dependent on imports from Israel. Nor would the Israelis allow Palestinians to open businesses or establish franchises of American companies that might compete with Israeli businesses.

This last issue was taken up by Brown, who repeatedly reminded the Israelis that they could not block US companies from establishing franchises with Palestinian partners because the Occupied Territories were Palestinian and not Israeli.

During our visits to these territories, our BfP delegations witnessed many of these problems. On our first official visit, we sought entry through the Allenby Bridge from Jordan. American-Jewish business leaders and others passed easily, while those of Arab descent were separated from the group and forced to undergo screening, which was a humiliating experience.

We convened a session in Jerusalem for Palestinians to meet the Americans interested in investment opportunities, only to discover that in order to enter the city, Palestinians had to secure a pass from the occupation authority. Since the passes only permitted them a few hours in the city, the time they were able to devote to our discussions proved limited. Entry into and exit from Gaza were equally problematic. One scene on leaving Gaza has stayed with me.

There were what I can only describe as cattle chutes filled with hundreds of Palestinian men waiting in the sun for permission to enter Israel for work. Straddling the chutes were young Israeli soldiers shouting at the Palestinians below, ordering them to look down and hold their passes above their heads. It was deeply disturbing.

Despite these problems, we remained energised by the persistent hope of the Palestinian businessmen with whom we were working. On the first anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords, Mr Gore held a news conference to provide a progress report. At that event, he announced a number of the American-Palestinian partnership projects that BfP had helped to arrange.

One of the most promising of these projects was the proposal by a Virginia-based Palestinian-American company to build a Marriott resort on the Gaza beachfront. It was to be a 275-room hotel, resort and business centre and was envisioned as a magnet that would help draw other businesses to Gaza.

The project, as designed, would employ more than 1,000 Palestinians in its construction and hundreds more, once completed. The project was endorsed by Brown, a champion of our BfP, and supported by the head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Yasser Arafat, both of whom saw the hotel as laying the foundation for the future economic growth.

Securing initial investment, the sponsoring company began construction, starting with the foundation and a huge parking garage. Because of the risks involved, they sought risk insurance from OPIC – the US agency created to guarantee investment against risk.

In the end, the Israeli impediments to Palestinian development proved too great to overcome. The proposed partnerships dissolved and with them both the dream of an independent Palestinian economy and the peace process faltered. In that environment, the Marriott project was unable to secure risk insurance and needed new investment. It died, as well.

Against this backdrop, it has been painful in recent weeks to hear Mr Trump’s insulting plan to build an American-owned Gaza Riviera. It reminded me of what might have been – but is now being discussed, three decades later, without any Palestinians to benefit from its development.