Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2010
(3) Palestine
The Palestine issue is the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict which has persisted for more than half a century. The issue of Middle East peace in particular is one that has a significant impact on the stability and prosperity of the international community as a whole, including Japan. On top of which, preparations for the social and economic development and nation building of the Palestinian Autonomous Areas are indispensable when it comes to advancing the current Middle East peace process, which strives for peaceful coexistence between the two nations. Since the initiation of the Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority via the Oslo Accords in 1993, Japan and the other members of the international community have been actively deploying assistance to Palestine.
The people of the Palestinian Autonomous Areas continue to harbor immense dissatisfaction and antipathy toward their occupation by Israel. On the economic front, the region has come to be largely dependent on the Israeli economy and international assistance due to the occupation, which has lasted for many years. It is currently striving to break free of this state of dependency. Hereafter, making the Palestinian economy independent serves as the most important challenge for the sake of setting in place an environment in which Palestine can negotiate with Israel on an equal footing with an eye toward true peace.
<Japan’s Efforts>
In light of the perspective of ”peacebuilding,” which is one of the priority issues in the ODA Charter, Japan regards assistance for Palestine as a crucial pillar of measures contributing to Middle East peace. In order to stabilize the civil life of the Palestinians and support the realization of a future Palestinian state, Japan has provided assistance to Palestine of more than approximately US$1 billion in total since 1993. The total amount of assistance makes Japan one of its major donors after others like the European Union (EU) and the United States.
What is more, since July 2006 Japan has been advocating the Corridor for Peace and Prosperity concept as its own unique medium to long-term initiative for future co-existence and co-prosperity between Israel and Palestine. The concept advances the economic development of the Jordan Valley through intraregional cooperation by the four parties of Japan, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Japan is currently moving forward with an initiative to construct an agro-industrial park on the outskirts of Jericho to make this a reality.
At the aid pledging conference for Palestine held in Paris in December 2007, Japan announced its intent to provide US$150 million of assistance for the immediate future. Then, following the massive aerial bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli Army that lasted from December 2008 to January 2009, Japan announced assistance to Palestine of US$200 million for the immediate future, including US$60 million worth of emergency humanitarian and recovery assistance for Gaza. This was announced at the International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza which was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in March 2009. Presently Japan is steadily providing assistance.
Furthermore, Japan upholds the Palestinian Self-Government Authority Charter that was announced in 2008, and supports the creation of a Palestinian state. The charter aims for institution and organization building in order to create a nation within two years.