Palestine Think Tank

Where will the Bethlehem Investors Conference lead the Palestinians? Who planned and hosted this conference, and why? What role does Israel play in this Investors Conference in Bethlehem? Who decides who is not allowed, and who is allowed, to attend the Investors Conference: Israel or the PA? Will the Investors Conference discuss the proposed joint economical project at the border? Why do the Americans have to stick their nose in every project and every political decision, we are already suffering under the criminal occupation of Israel without having to account for the thievery being implemented by the Americans. Will we have to kick them out as well once the Jews are gone?

Following the pointless international conferences in Annapolis and Paris, the British Prime Minster Gordon Brown stated in a press conference held on May 17th, 2007 in London during the visit of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, that the US governments planned another conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and that the British government together with the USA will host this conference. Brown said that there is an important need for holding an investment conference in Bethlehem in order to create jobs for prosperity and opportunity in the Palestinian areas.

Israel Attended the Conference in Disguise, Sending Representatives Under Various Nationalities:

The US and Britain in full coordination with Israel are hosting this conference, which will serve the “normalization” of relations between Israel and the Arab countries through the proposed project, which is called “Joint economical project at the borders”. Israel will also take part in it. The PA of course denies these allegations.

The PA Palestinian Minster of Economy and Communications of the Palestinian emergency government, Kamal Hassuna, strongly defended the investors conference in Bethlehem during his visit to Vienna. He said that the investors conference will put Palestine on the world map of economy and reflect the real image of the economic situation and the mutual work between the Palestinian private sector companies and international businessmen. He claimed that the conference aims at attracting investors in different sectors: Tourism, Finance, Agriculture, Information and Communication Technology, Infrastructure and Housing.

The Minster Hassuna described the conference as a historical event which would be a continuation of the political process, and would strengthen the link between politics and the economy in Palestine. The PA stated that hundreds of investors applied to take part in this conference. The highest percent of participants came from UK. The conference was planned for 2006, and postponed as a result of the political deteriorated situation in West Bank cities at that time.

The Executive Chairman of the Investors Conference, Dr. Hasan Abu Libdeh confessed that Israel took part in the Bethlehem Investment Conference. He said that the PA had invited 7 businessmen from Israel and six businessmen from Arab Israel to take part in the conference. Abu Libdeh legitimized the invitation of Israeli businessmen. He said that “more than 90% of our imports come from Israel, We have an economic relationship with Israel”.

Signs on the ground show that the Israeli investors in Bethlehem conference are more than the few which Dr. Abu Libdeh conceded. According to various sources, over 40 Israelis are attending the conference, without taking in account that already many Jews attended the conference under various nationalities but never declaring themselves as Jews or citizens or supporters of Israel, mainly as Americans and British, like Ronald Cohen, who attended “PIC” as a wealthy British-based investor who runs a property investment group called the Portland Trust, which operates in Tel Aviv, Ramallah and other countries in Europe and the US. The smell in the air says that the conference is aimed at “normalization” of the relationship between the Arab investors and Israel. Some PA officials are adopting a proposal to build an Israeli-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce, as the relationship between the majority of the PA emergency government and Israel is very strong.

Palestine Jan. 2007 019In one way or another, Israel has a certain level of control over the Palestinian Investment Conference and that the success or the failure of this conference is dependent on the Israeli government itself. The Israeli government controls who will and who will not attend this conference in Bethlehem, and they refused entry permits to all investors who are not serving the interests of Israel. The Israeli government itself gave licenses, visas and permissions for attendance to the conference.

The Israeli occupation refused the issue over 150 permits and visas from the initial list of the investors who applied to attend the conference. In the same way, the Israeli government did not answer the many applications to attend the conference which came through the PA or the Israeli embassies. The final list of the attendants was not known to the PA itself until the last moment. Israel gave itself the right to control the investors conference on all the levels.

President Mahmoud Abbas, who opened the Investment Conference, he declared that East Jerusalem is an occupied territory which must return to the Palestinians. President Mahmoud Abbas urged foreign companies to spend their money in the Palestinian territories in the service of peace, assuring them their investments would be safe. He welcomed the political agreement on Lebanon, and he expressed his hops that the agreement will be a corner stone for new era in prosperous Lebanon. President Abbas also welcomed the news on serious negotiations between Syria and Israel, hoping that the two sides will reach a good peaceful solution.

On the other side, approximately 1300 participants participated in the conference, around 70 per cent of whom are from the US, Britain and other Foreign and Arab countries. Many attendants participated in the Investment conference who have nothing to do with Palestine, among them the U.S Treasury Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmitt who stated during the conference that the US is funneling $550 million in aid this year and is promoting private investment initiatives in Palestine. The US Consul-General Jake Walles, the US Trade and Development Agency Director Larry Walther, Robert Mosbacher, the US chief executive of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, John Sullivan, the US deputy secretary of the Commerce Department.

The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the U.K. Secretary of State Douglas Alexander, the former British prime minister Tony Blair, who is now the envoy of the Middle East Quartet monitoring the peace process. Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Assistance Alexander Saltanov, the Swedish Minister of Trade Ewa Bjorling, the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, the World Bank Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub.

Sheikh Muhammad Bin Hamdan al-Nihayan, Mohammad Ahmad bin Abed Al-Aziz Alshihi under-secretary the of the UAE Ministry of Economy MOE, the Jordanian Minister of Industry and Trade Amer Al-Hadidi, the EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the director for Middle East and South Mediterranean in the European Union, the Deputy-Director of the Middle East and Africa Bureau in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shinsuke Sugiyama, the representative of the Foreign Ministry of China Son Bi Gan, the Spanish Minister of Trade Antonio Sanchez, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees who was the only one who talked about Israel during the investment conference, he said that Israel’s actions have hampered vital assistance being delivered to Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants who depend on aids, as well as a large number of international business representatives.

Palestine 1-26-07 026The Arabs and the other foreign countries are paying for the destruction caused by Israel, and at the same time using this to make money on the back of the Palestinians. Companies from Saudi Arabia and Qatar signed up with Palestinian partners for $550 million in construction projects in Palestine on the first day of the investment conference in Bethlehem. The Qatar Diar Real Estate Investment Co, which is owned by the government of Qatar, signed a $350 million agreement with a Palestinian partner, Masar Company, to build a new West Bank town with 5.000 homes near the city of Ramallah. The Land Holding Co. “Al Ard Al Qabeda”, a Saudi company, signed a $200 million deal with the Palestine Investment Fund to build office towers, malls, entertainment centers and a hotel in the West Bank town of El Bireh, near Ramallah. Will these projects be for the benefit of Palestinians, or will they help to enrich the Jews from around the world, and, if they do not enrich Jews, will Israel destroy these projects after some months, just like they destroyed all the EU infrastructure projects in Palestine ?

Is it not an atrocity and a crime against humanity to organize an “Investors Conference” in a city which is effectively a concentration camp for its inhabitants ? Is such a conference, under such conditions, not organized pillage?

The presidential security official Abu Khalil Al-Akhras of the PA threatened Palestinian journalists and told them that any journalist who would approach any attendant to less than three meters would be shot on the spot. The result is that this sham “conference” is not mentioned in either Israeli or Palestinian media. What do they have to hide?