Japan’s Official Development Assistance(ODA) Towards Palestine(1993-2018)

The ODA(Official Development Assistance)is the assistance provided by developed countries directly or indirectly to developing countries in the name of promoting the economic development of developing counties after World war II.The ODA policy in Japan is an important manifestation of Japan’s foreign policy,and studying its ODA policy is an important way to understand Japan’s foreign policyThe objective of this thesis is to explore the background and motivation of Japan’s ODA to Palestine,analyse Japan’s policy,content and implementation of its ODA to Palestine,summarize the characteristics and evaluate the gains and losses to provide China lessons for its foreign AidThis thesis has three chapters.The first chapter mainly elaborate the origin,background and strategic intention of Japan’s ODA to Palestine.Japan’s Middle East policy has undergone several huge changes,which is from ’supporting Israel and suppressing Arab’ to ’neutral’ to ’Arab-friendly’ and finally becoming actively involve into Middle East policy situation.Corresponding to the conversion of its policy,the concept of ODA has also completed the transition from economic drive to political drive.The Oslo agreement signed between Palestine and Israel in 1993 provided an opportunity for Japan to involve in the Middle East Peace issue.Japan attempted to achieve its strategic goals by providing ODA to Palestine:ensuring energy security,balancing foreign policy and establish the power statusThe second chapter analyses the history of Japan’s ODA to Palestinian,which is mainly according to these two prospects:the ODA policy and its implementation.Meanwhile the decision-making and implementation system of Japan’s ODA have been reviewed.Finally,the characteristics of Japan’s ODA to Palestine is summarised based on the above contents.At present,Japan’s ODA is mainly led and determined by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,and the Japan International Cooperation Agency is responsible for the implementation of specific projects.On the basis of adhering to the "two-st ate plan," Japan has proposed three direct goals for the ODA to Palestine,which are related to the three areas of people’s livelihood,politics,and economics,they all promoted the Palestinian statehood and people’s independence eventually.In addition,Japan proposed two unique multilateral cooperation mechanisms in 2006 and 2013 individually to draw other countries together to assist Palestine.From above,some characteristics of Japan’s assistance to Palestine can be summarized that attach importance to polit ical interests over economic interests,attach importance to transnational cooperation and the role of civil societyThe third chapter mainly evaluates Japan’s ODA policy to Palestine.Firstly,its ac hievements have been summarized,and the factors that restrict the effectiveness of Japan’s assistance to Palestine are also analysed.Some experiences and enlightenments has been concluded to provide some reference for China’s foreign aid at last.Japan’s assistance to Palestine has achieved many practical results,but there are also many const raints.For example,Palestine’s complex political factions and struggles,Israel’s non-cooperation,uncertainty in the international situation,and Japan’s domestic financial pressure are all constraints on the effectiveness of Japan’s assistance to Palestine.Finally,some experiences can be summarized for China’s reference.For example,in the future foreign aid,international cooperation should be strengthened;the mechanism for the decision-making and implementation of assistance should be further improved;China’s abundant human and material resources should be utilized to its full advantage;and insisting independent power diplomacy.