Japan backs Abbas with $60 mil aid package to Palestinians

[Scurrilous]

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=324880

<snip>

"Japan on Sunday threw its full support behind the new Palestinian leadership under President Mahmoud Abbas and announced a new $60 million aid package to the Palestinian Authority. Visiting Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura revealed the aid plan in a meeting with Abbas, who won the Jan. 9 presidential election.

Abbas pledged to do his "utmost to realize peace in the Middle East" and said he is willing to resume talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, according to Machimura. The aid Machimura pledged to Abbas will bring the total sum of Japan's assistance to the Palestinians in fiscal 2004 through March 31 to about $90 million."

[UL_Approved]

1. Damn

This will surely put a kink in Sharon's plans for total destruction of Palestine...

[catgirl]

2. Great news.

Finally someone is throwing their weight behind the Palestinians.
Hopefully this will give them the hope and morale boost they
need to move towards stability.

Sharon needs to go. He's a vile person. I still can't believe
he is the leader of Israel. There will never be peace as long
as he's in power. Talk about a flip-flopper.

[burythehatchet]

4. Only a select few modern nations are comfortable with

electing war criminals as their leaders.

[catgirl]

3. Great news.

Finally someone is throwing their weight behind the Palestinians.
Hopefully this will give them the hope and morale boost they
need to move towards stability.

Sharon needs to go. He's a vile person. I still can't believe
he is the leader of Israel. There will never be peace as long
as he's in power. Talk about a flip-flopper.

[Coastie for Truth]

5. Au Contraire

Having just retired from a company that has significant (not oil, energy or petroleum) operations in Israel - and in Egypt and Saudi Arabia (and Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India)----

There is a lot of money sitting on the sidelines waiting to jump into "Palestine" (read, "Gaza and the West Bank" ) - and we are not talking about sewing shirts or stitching shoes or soldering circuit boards. We are talking about sophisticated, "technical, professional and scientific professions" with the accompanying "managerial and executive jobs" (not straw boss foreman).


While my US Passport may not be valid in Saudi Arabia - I have worked with my Saudi and Egyptian colleagues (in the US, in Egypt) - and if Hamas doesn't blow the place up - I predict the West Bank will be the "Next Bangalore."

The Palestinians present a golden opportunity (the "next Bangalore", maybe the "next Singapore" ) because of their extended family contacts across the region and their high levels of education among the Palestinian Diaspora.

This Japanese move was expected. The Japanese "built the Malaysian miracle" - and that's what I predict for "Palestine"

This is a step for peace and prosperity.

[IndianaGreen]

6. And how do we know the Palestinians will get the money

instead of the thieves that run the PA today? The Palestinians of Gaza, for example, live in great poverty. While we can rightfully blame the Occupation for a lot of the Palestinian woes, how can we explain the bank accounts of some of the Palestinian leaders?

[Coastie for Truth]

7. If you mean the "Palestinian Authority" - forget it

The "business model" is likely to be service (including r&d, software development, fabless semiconductor fabs, plus call centers and Arabic language "back offices" ) and assembly -- in what used to be called "spin outs" and "spin offs" and "satellites" of multi-nationals.

Management will be ethnic Palestinians who are "alumni" of the partner, where at least the Palestinian management will have an equity interest. There is a natutral conflict between the more corrupt bureaucrats and the "managers" of the businesses.