Tony Blair served as an envoy. The Palestinian Authority responded by indicating that it would not trade its political aspirations for economic aid, but was assured that the plan was meant as a complement to negotiations, and not as a substitute. Peace talks failed for unrelated reasons without any implementation of the proposal. According to Jonathan Cook in an article published by CounterPunch, Israeli economist Shir Hever has estimated (2016) that at a minimum 78% of foreign humanitarian aid to Palestine finishes up in Israeli coffers. He draws the implication that foreign donor countries are thereby financing Israel's occupation. In return Palestinians receive the equivalent amount in food, goods and services from Israel which is used to improve the standard of living of Palestinians. Israeli–Palestinian relations Commerce Joint economic cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians officials has experienced growth over the past years. Starting in 2008, Cisco Systems began a concerted effort to jump-start the nascent Palestinian IT sector with a holistic ecosystem approach, encompassing venture capital, private equity, capacity building and direct outsourcing to Palestinian companies. The company invested $15 million toward that end and drew in other major international investors and donors, including Microsoft, HP and Google. The Palestinian IT sector has since grown from 0.8% of GDP in 2008 to 5% in 2010. Olives of Peace is a joint Israeli–Palestinian business venture to sell olive oil. Through this project, Israelis and Palestinians have carried out joint training sessions and planning. The oil is sold under the brand name "Olives of Peace." In October 2009, a new project got underway promoting tourism and travel between the two areas. New business efforts and tourist attractions have been initiated in Jenin. The two regions are planning a joint industrial zone which would bridge the border. Palestinians would produce locally-made handicrafts and sell them through Gilboa to other regions of the world. Another possible project is a joint language center, where Israelis and Palestinians would teach each other Arabic and Hebrew, as well as aspects of their cultural heritage. Since 2010, Israeli high-tech companies have begun to employ Palestinian engineers. To date, most of them are outsourced workers, but Mellanox, a computer hardware firm, plans to hire 15–20 Palestinian engineers as regular employees. In 2011, bilateral trade between Israel and the Palestinian-ruled areas reached $4.3 billion, with Israeli exports to the PA amounting to $3.5 billion and Palestinian exports to Israel amounting