Three-pillar plan

The ‘Peace to Prosperity’ Plan proposed by Jared Kushner, senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, is based on three pillars. The first one is to unleash Palestine’s economic potentials while the second is to empower the Palestinian people. And the third pillar is all about enhancing the Palestine governance. “You can’t do one without the other two and you need to be doing all three at the same time in order to make this work,” Mr Kushner said.

“We’ve built it based on a lot of the work that’s been done in the past. We believe over time that we can double the GDP of the Palestinians, we can create over a million new jobs we can reduce the unemployment rate to single digits and we can reduce the poverty rate by 50 per cent. “This is not an easy thing to do but it’s something that can be implemented. We’ve had this peer-reviewed it extensively and we have invited everyone here and everyone throughout the world. We have released this publicly to give us their thoughts and feedback,” he said.

With regard to the first pillar, the idea is to generate rapid economic growth and job creation. This part of the plan will create a business environment that provides investors with confidence that their assets will be secure by improving property rights, the rule of the law, fiscal sustainability, capital markets and anti-corruption policies. The plan will reduce constraints on Palestinian economic growth by Opening the West Bank and Gaza to regional and Global Markets.

Major investments in transportation and Infrastructure will help the West Bank and Gaza integrate with neighbouring economies increasing the competitiveness of Palestinian exports and reducing complications of transport and travel. To complement these investments, this plan will also support steps to improve Palestinian cooperation with Egypt, Israel and Jordan with the goal of reducing regulatory barriers to the movement of Palestinian goods and people.

The first pillar of the plan aims to construct essential infrastructure, promote private sector growth and strengthen regional development and integration. The second pillar envisions to support Palestine people through education workforce development and improved quality of life. This will supports the development and training of Palestinian educators while expanding access to educational opportunities to underserved communities and demographics.

Other projects will help encourage educational reforms and innovation. By providing financial incentives to support the development of improved academic standards and curricula, this plan will help turn the West Bank and Gaza into a centre of educational excellence. Apart from enhancing the quality of education, the plan also calls for implementing workforce strengthening programmes and transforming the Palestinian healthcare sector to improve the overall quality of life.