Page 38 - The Economist Asia January 2018

The Economist January 27th 2018
38 Middle East and Africa
Palestinian refugees Yet the agency also lets Israel indulge a
Stripping the Strip fantasy. Since 2007 it has maintained a
punishing military blockade on Gaza (as
has Egypt). The consequences have been
stark. Unable to export goods, hundreds of
Gazan factories and farms have closed.
Most of Gaza’s 2m people have been un-
CAIRO able to leave their tiny enclave for a de-
Is America wrong to cutaid to cade. Water is undrinkable and electricity
Palestinian refugees?
available only for a few hours a day. Even
TRIP billed as a show of support for the Israeli army now reckons the blockade
AChristians had a noticeable lack of is ineffective at best, counter-productive at
them. On January 22nd Mike Pence, Amer- worst. Ironically, foreign aid lets it persist.
ica’s vice-president, landed in Israel on the Half of Gaza’s people rely on UNRWA for
last leg ofa three-country jaunt. Originally food, 262,000 students are enrolled in its
scheduled for December, it was delayed schools and its clinics handle more than
after Donald Trump made the controver- 4m patient visits a year.
sial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Isra- Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA’s head,
el’s capital. When Mr Pence arrived at last, calls America’s cuts “abrupt and harmful”.
the Palestinians blackballed him. So did While MrPence wastouringthe region, the
Christian leaders in Egypt and Jordan. Mr agency launched an appeal called “dignity
Pence, a devout Christian himself, did not He has nothing left to lose is priceless.” It hopes to raise an extra
even set foot in a church in the Holy Land. $500m. Yet there is little dignity to be
No one was sure why he came. His Israel, worried about its own demography, found in places like Gaza’s Shati camp,
meetings with Israeli and Arab leaders will permit only a token homecoming un- where the smell of untreated sewage lin-
were routine, save fora speech in the Knes- der a future peace deal. In private, Palestin- gers over the teeming alleyways. UNRWA
set, where he announced that America ian leadersdoubttheirstate could handle a does admirable work in such places—liter-
would move its embassy to Jerusalem by huge influx of new citizens. Israel and its allykeepingmillionsofpeople alive. Italso
the end of 2019. The trip seemed to be defenders often fault UNRWA for letting shields all parties from the consequences
about domestic politics: for Mr Pence, a Palestinians nurture this distant hope. ofprolongingthe conflict. 7
nod to his evangelical base; for Binyamin
Netanyahu, Israel’sscandal-plagued prime
minister, a chance to looklike a statesman. Africa’s CFA franc
And the Palestinians got to snub an ad-
ministration they now see as biased. Apart Franc exchange
from Jerusalem, they are also fuming over
cuts to the UN Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA), which aidsPalestinian refugees.
In January Mr Trump suspended $65m,
about half of America’s next scheduled
payment, plus$45m in emergencyfood aid DAKAR
AFrench-backed currencycomes underfire
that it had pledged. The cuts will bite. In
2016 America was the agency’s largest do- EBATING the merits of the CFA franc, CFA franc currencies
nor. It paid 30% of UNRWA’s budget of Dsays Guy Marius Sagna, a Senegalese West African Central African
$1.2bn, more than twice as much as the EU. activist, “is like discussing the advantages ATLANTIC
The agencywasfounded in 1949 to offer and disadvantages of slavery.” That is a ri- OCEAN BURKINA LIBYA
FASO
temporary aid to 750,000 Palestinians dis- diculous analogy. But the past year has SENEGAL
placed by the creation of Israel. Like so seen protests in several cities against the Dakar NIGER CHAD
much else in this intractable conflict, it has currency, used by 14 countries in west and MALI SUDAN
become permanent. Because the UN central Africa and supported byFrance, the BENIN
GUINEA- IVORY TOGO NIGERIA
deems the descendants ofPalestinian refu- former colonial power. One firebrand was BISSAU COAST CAMEROON C A R
gees to be refugees, too, their number has deported from Senegal afterburninga CFA GHANA
swelled to more than 5m. francnote. AdirectorofLa Francophonie, a EQUATORIAL GUINEA GABON CONGO-
BRAZZAVILLE
In Lebanon, most lack citizenship and union of French-speaking nations, was Gulf of Guinea
live in grim camps. The government says it suspended after writing an explosive arti-
cannot afford to give them social services; cle on the topic. The agitators are few, but delegates sit on the central banks’ boards.
they are also barred from some jobs. Some they have hit a nerve. This peculiarsystem has brought stabil-
Lebanese fear that granting citizenship to To its critics, the CFA franc is a colonial ity. Over the past 50 years inflation has av-
so many Sunni Muslims would upset their anachronism; to its defenders, a bulwark eraged 6% in Ivory Coast, which uses the
country’sdelicate sectarian balance. Those of stability. Established under French rule, CFA franc, and 29% in neighbouring Gha-
fears may be overblown: a census released it is actually two distinct currencies. A cen- na, which does not. It eases trade with Eu-
in December found that only about tral African bloc, oil-soaked and despotic, rope, the region’s biggest partner, and frees
175,000 Palestinian refugees still live in uses one; the other circulates in eight foreign investors from the risks of ex-
Lebanon, one-third of previous estimates. poorer, more open countries to the west change-rate fluctuations.
They have fared better in Jordan, but (see map). Both are pegged to the euro, Where some see an anchor, otherssee a
400,000-plus live in camps. with convertibility guaranteed by France. millstone. To maintain the euro peg, notes
Many still hope to go back to their an- Countries in each zone pool their foreign- Ndongo Samba Sylla, a Senegalese econo-
cestral homes. This “right of return” is exchange reserves, of which half must be mist, these very poor countries must track
among the conflict’s most emotive issues. deposited with the French treasury. French the hawkish monetary policy of the Euro- 1