"War, border closures, violence, and unemployment have hampered the Palestinian economy for over a decade. Despite these obstacles and setbacks, the future outlook is optimistic." Based on the research of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), the World Bank, and other organizations, 'Development Under Adversity' reviews the development of the Palestinian economy since the 1993 Declaration of Principles. The Palestinian economy has enormous potential. Its general development indicators, including life expectancy, literacy, and child mortality rates, are among the best in the Middle East and North Africa. The book identifies the conditions under which the Palestinian economy can grow. They include trade channels that reduce the economy's reliance on Israel; the creation of a more efficient civil service; more investment-oriented public expenditure; and more resourceful support from NGOs in the delivery of health, education, welfare, and infrastructure services. 'Development Under Adversity' provides historical background, an objective examination of recent economic and political developments, and a comprehensive analysis of the contribution that the donor community can make toward alleviating poverty. Throughout its analysis, the book focuses on the human consequences of economic uncertainty. It studies the social and household costs of border closures, and includes complete chapters about the education and health sectors. The result is a book that will be relevant to a wide range of institutional and private lenders, as well as to anyone with a general interest in the well-being and future of the Palestinian economy.

"The widely held assumption that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is a temporary situation and that the 'peace process' will soon bring an end to Israeli abuses has obscured the reality on the ground today of Israel's entrenched discriminatory rule over Palestinians. A single authority, the Israeli government, rules primarily over the area between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, populated by two groups of roughly equal size, methodologically privileging Jewish Israelis while repressing Palestinians, most severely in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), made-up of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Drawing on years of human rights documentation, case studies and a review of government planning documents, statements by officials and other sources, [this report] examines Israel's treatment of Palestinians and evaluates whether particular Israeli policies and practices in certain areas amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution."--Page 4 of cover.

This book is the result of a joint research effort led by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and involving the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Palestine Health Council. It discusses opportunities for enhancement of water supplies and avoidance of overexploitation of water resources in the Middle East. Based on the concept that ecosystem goods and services are essential to maintaining water quality and quantity, the book emphasizes conservation, improved use of current technologies, and water management approaches that are compatible with environmental quality.

The Missing Peace, published to great acclaim last year, is the most candid inside account of the Middle East peace process ever written.