Israel is in the OECD!

Great news...Israel was accepted today as the 32nd member of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Israel, Estonia and Slovenia were all asked to join the now 34 country economic organization.

As readers of this blog will recall, the Palestinian Authority, backed by its fellow travelers elsewhere, called for trade unionists to block adhesion of Israel to the OECD. To understand matters fully, a country needs the unanimous backing of the organization in order to join. That means that the PA was unsucessful with 31 sovereign governments.

There are some who oppose the OECD in principle (because it advances the market economy). I understand that point of view. It is a root and branch socialist point of view. However, those who opposed Israel's adhesion to the organization were not doing this from a socialist point of view. Rather, it was a deliberate attempt to isolate the Jewish state qua Jewish state. Of course the origin of the OECD was as the agency that administered the Marshall Plan in postwar Europe.

I am of the opinion that the Marshall PLan, by building up the economies of war-torn western Europe did much to create the environment of peace in Europe. Engagement and mutual economic interest can do much to overcome political divisions. Once again, one of the key problems with the BDS movement is that it works against peace. We should be encouraging the integration of the Palestinian and Israeli economies so that they are mutually dependent.