Palestinians not only need cash but also want peace

Occupied Jerusalem: There is a children's park not far from my Jerusalem home, which neatly illustrates international aid attempts to deal with the Israel-Palestine question.

The playground, really only known to the Palestinian local population, was paid for by an Italian contribution, funded through the EU and constructed by the UN Development Programme, and, at first glance, all looks in order with its see-saw, slides and climbing frame. Then you notice the swings.

They hang from beams arranged in a circle, and when children swing with any oomph they crack into each other at the centre of the circle.

The park is well intentioned, fully funded but ultimately dysfunctional. As is the top-heavy folly of much of the aid industry that Tony Blair sought to wrestle with in Paris on Monday. Raising the cash by itself won't ever be enough. Spending it on effective projects that are sustainable, capable of running themselves when the prop of foreign aid money is removed and in an environment of peace with the neighbours, especially Israel, is key.

It is true that the largest commitments of cash came not from the Arab world. But the Arab world has long paid a price for the Israel-Palestine conflict that is hard to measure in pecuniary terms.

Putting cart before horse

Arab nations also have a more visceral connection to the Israel-Palestinian question. They have felt every violent spasm of the conflict and, as a result, they have learnt a lesson Blair and the other Western leaders would do well to heed.

There is no point, Saudi Arabia and other nations argue, throwing more aid money at the Palestinian issue unless a meaningful peace treaty is signed with Israel that results in it removing its occupation forces from land allotted to the Palestinians so they can get on with the business of nation-building.

In the eyes of many in the Arab world, to commit billions now, before any peace deal is signed between Israel and the Palestinians, is to put the cart before the horse. This view is strongly echoed by human-rights groups, such as Oxfam, which point out that millions of dollars of aid to the Palestinians is being wasted because of problems caused by the conflict.

As Adam Leach, Oxfam's Middle East director, put it, pledges in Paris were being "poured into a leaking bucket". "The challenge is to fix the leak, not pour faster," he said.