By Daoud Kuttab

So long as Palestinian-Israeli negotiations are not producing an agreement, there is at least one area that will continue to be a powder keg: the Jordan Valley.

Actions on the ground in any conflict often reflect points of political disagreement. The US-sponsored negotiations, which are expected to last nine months, appear to have already brought to the surface sharp disagreement over one major issue: Who will eventually gain sovereignty over Area C?

Palestinian negotiators say Israeli insistence on retaining the Jordan Valley for another 40 years is complicating negotiations. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has brought the focus of attention to the major underdeveloped area in the West Bank. Over 60% of the West Bank was declared in Oslo’s interim agreement as under Israel’s total administrative and security control.

However, Oslo’s five-year interim plan has dragged out for 20 years, and the number of settlers in the West Bank, who live mostly in Area C, have more than doubled in this period. The largest single segment of Area C is the Jordan Valley. On Sept. 15, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the Jordan River the eastern border of the Palestinian state, but Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers do not appear to have paid much attention to Abbas’ proclamation. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The apparent failure of the ongoing secret Palestinian-Israeli talks appears to have led their US sponsors to put more emphasis on economic issues. A three-year plan has been drawn up by the US peace delegation working through the offices of the Quartet, still nominally headed by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Deputy Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa told the local wire service, Ma’an, that the US gave them a 200-page plan outlining their economic vision for the future of Palestine.

The US economic plan, which will require some $4 billion in investment, will attempt to strengthen the Palestinian IT sector, tourism, industry and agriculture. Mustafa insists that the plan will apply to all Palestinian areas, including the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, and that US officials promised to work with the Israelis to help in its implementation.

A major focus area of the plan is said to be the sparsely populated Palestinian areas totally under Israeli security and administrative control, where the Israelis have not permitted any development. Some 60% of the West Bank is declared Area C, including, among other areas, almost the entire Jordan Valley. Continue Reading »