BICOM

The UK has announced it will double aid for economic development in Gaza and the West Bank over the next five years as part of its efforts to improve the Palestinian economy.

Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt announced that the UK will provide £38m from 2018-23 to help create “desperately needed jobs, boost exports and collect taxes so that the Palestinian Authority (PA) can invest properly in vital services such as education and healthcare”.

Burt added: “Our work will also help to create reliable electricity and clean water supplies… as well as alleviating the urgent pressures on the Palestinian economy. This will help to create the necessary conditions for a peaceful two-state solution, which would allow Palestinians to truly prosper.”

The UK previously provided £16m for economic development in Gaza and the West Bank from 2013-2018.

According to a statement by the Department for International Development (DfID), the new UK aid programme will also help construct the Gaza Central Desalination Plant, provide finances to install solar panels for households, businesses, hospitals and public buildings, connect Palestinian IT firms and UK businesses, fund experts to help the PA work with Israel to unblock the transfer of taxes and custom revenues estimated to be worth £220m per year, and provide technical support to help Palestinian businesses export more, including by reducing logistics costs, removing barriers to exporting and helping them meet international standards.

The UK will also work closely with Israel and the PA to make it easier for Palestinians to sell their goods – including food, marble, stone and plastic products – to Israel and other countries in the region. The UK will provide direct assistance to help Palestinian businesses reach new export markets around the world.

In June, the US administration asked Arab allies to invest up to $1bn in the Gaza Strip when US special envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt visited the region. In January Israel presented the 15-member Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee a $1bn reconstruction plan, which included improving Gaza’s desalination plants ($710m), electricity lines ($36m), gas pipelines ($80m), and upgrading the Erez industrial park on the Israeli border.