Communicating Arts - Main Web SiteUnder the agreement (P.L. 104–234) requires that articles eligible for QIZ status must be manufactured in or directly imported from the areas administered by the Palestine Authority or another notified QIZ and meet the several conditions.
To quality for this scheme a product must be substantially transformed in the manufacturing process. Material and processing costs incurred in a QIZ must total not less than 35% of the appraised value of the product when imported into the United States.[1] Of this 35%, 15% must be either US materials or materials from Israel, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip, and/or Jordan or Egypt depending on the program. The remaining 20% of the 35% input must come from Israel and Jordan or Egypt. The remaining 65% can come from any part of the world. All importers must also certify that the article meet conditions for duty exemption.
Under the sharing agreements, the manufacturer from the Jordanian side must contribute at least 11.7% of the final produce, and the manufacturer on the Israeli side must contribute 8% (7% on high-tech products). Under the Israeli-Egyptian agreement, 11.7% of the inputs must be made in Israel.
The clothing and textile industry has benefited most from this arrangement. As tariffs on these goods into the United States are relatively high, exporters have used the duty-free benefits of QIZs to gain quick access to markets in the United States. [1]
On this very day in Egypt, June 14, 2010, some 779 Egyptian firms have bought into and are participating in the Egyptian part of the Qualifying Industrial Zones program. [2]
In Jordan, some 9,000 of about 30,000 jobs have been created for Jordanian labor--international labor, including from the West Bank, accounts for the remainder:
Under the FTA, Jordanian products which have at least 35 per cent value-added content from Jordan can be exported to US markets without customs duties while exports under the QIZ agreement, which promotes regional economic cooperation, requires an 8 per cent input from Israeli or West Bank sources . . ." [3]
For God's sake, don't call it "collaboration"!
Call it "resisted economic integration" or "mutually assured development" or some such: the problem is it puts people to work, distributes paychecks and profits locally and regionally, and alters social attitudes for the better.
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Certain people resist love.
Certain others embrace it.
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It's not only business that gets into the business of integrating communities and producing cooperation in the broader public interest:
The Bedouin village of Um Bateen, just outside Beersheba in southern Israel, has no paved roads – which makes it the perfect place for a new mountain bike club. [4]
Within Israel, where broad intercommunity cooperation is possible, various programs facilitate integrating activity programs for adults and children. I don't want to drift off into leisure and society issues on this post, nor do I want to spell the difference between cultural assimilation and the maintenance of cultural identity, but while the QIZ campuses of Egypt and Jordan mix Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian and other labor in local and regional efforts to produce goods for international markets, and do so quite successfully, I thought it might be healthy to relay yet another success story involving the development of another productive and enjoyable common experience among people who might otherwise mix less or less well.
the Tourism Ministry in cooperation with the KKL-JNF, the Cycling Association, the Nature and Parks Authority, the Development of the Galilee and the Negev authorities and other ministries and bodies, has developed a multi-year action plan that includes infrastructure development of 4,900 kilometers of varied cycling paths and the accompanying facilities, as well as educational, community and explanatory activities. [5]
Would you have your country spend $30 million on bicycling infrastructure if it encouraged community development, cross-cultural activity, and tourism?
Israel is spending that much, and my bet is that it will see it return in both the development of its children, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, and in returns associated with cultural, ecological, and historical tourism.
Source: Reference item "4"; on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43mUeMB_Go
Reference
1. Wikipedia. "Qualifying Industrial Zones": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualifying_Industrial_Zone
2. Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry. "List of Companies Entitled to QIZ Duty-Free Treatment." Table valid from June 6 to August 14, 2010: http://www.qizegypt.gov.eg/images/attachment.ashx.pdf.
3. Nouman, Abeer. "Imports from U.S. Surpass Jordanian Exports under QIZ, FTA." January 22, 2010: http://www.bilaterals.org/spip.php?article16648.
4. Green Prophet Staff. "Cycling for Peace as Israeli Arabs, Jews, and Beduoin Kids Get Free Bikes and Clubs." June 14, 2010: http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/06/14/22668/israel-kids-free-bikes/
5. Kloosterman, Karin. "Pumping $30 million into Cycling Tourist's Pedals." Green Prophet, June 11, 2010: http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/06/11/22588/tourism-cycling-israel/
Other Reference
Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry. QIZ Egypt Media Center Press Coverage: http://www.qizegypt.gov.eg/Media_PressCoverage.aspx.
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