That’s the message from the World Bank to Israel. Nigel Roberts, the Bank’s representative in the Territories has come out publicly with the assessment that Israel must allow Palestinian Gazans into Israel to work through 2008 at least, despite any disengagement pullout.
Not only that, said the dreamer, but Israel has to ease closures, increase Palestinian accessability into Israel, and watch as the world gives money to the Palestinians again even if $900 million disappeared last time.
When asked if the current war the Palestinians launched has something to do with their current plight, he indicated he had no desire to address the past, only look to the future.
When asked whether other Arab nations could provide jobs for the impoverished Gazans, he proved himself no less funny than Jerry Seinfeld:
He said it was illogical to expect Arab states to hire Palestinians in Israel’s stead, because Palestinian workers have been barred from the Gulf states ever since the Palestinians backed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s 1991 invasion of Kuwait.
I’m sure the Israeli Cabinet is having an emergency meeting right this minute in their haste to comply with his wishes.
You just have to love Monty Python. How they got into the World Bank is a mystery though!