It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Israel is very much ‘enamoured’ with the idea of Paul Wolfowitz heading up the World Bank.
According to the neo-con Jerusalem Post, “Senior Israeli officials reacted with satisfaction Wednesday to news that U.S. President George W. Bush tapped Paul Wolfowitz as his choice to be the next head of the World Bank.”
“Wolfowitz’s appointment to head the World Bank will have significance for Israel since the World Bank is expected to play a key economic role in Gaza after Israel’s withdrawal… The World Bank is expected to supervise the implementation of hundreds of million of dollars worth of projects to rebuild Gaza. One official said that Wolfowitz would likely ensure that the Palestinians fulfill strict conditions regarding reform and democratization in order to get the money.”
What Wolfowitz’s appointment means to Tel Aviv is that the World Bank will foot the bill and rebuild what the Israeli Defense Forces have destroyed over the years.
Of course, this rebuilding will not be in the interest of the Palestinians, but Wall Street bankers and multinational corporations.
The World Bank and the IMF are all about increasing poverty through so-called structural adjustment policies: decrease domestic consumption and shift scarce resources into production of cash crops for export-once the World Bank and the IMF sink their teeth into a country, state-owned companies and many state services are privatized, civil services are drastically downsized, and health and education expenditures are cut and restructured.
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