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Palestinian business leaders are turning their back on their Israeli counterparts as relations between the two sides worsen following this summer’s war in Gaza and the collapse of the peace process.
Breaking the Impasse, a group of leading Israeli and Palestinian business leaders formed last year with the aim of pressing their respective political leaders to make peace, has been put on hold indefinitely because of emotions inflamed by the war and what some participants say is a failure to agree on basic principles and goals.
“We are frozen at the moment,” says Samir Hulileh, chief executive of Padico, a leading Palestinian conglomerate and Breaking the Impasse participant. “We were polarised during the war and we felt there was very little to be shared. We are now freezing the relationship, and looking for alternatives.”
The initiative’s apparent problems reflect a broader trend towards unilateralism and introspection among Palestinians after the failure of the latest round of peace talks, which many feel cannot be revived because of rightwing dominance in Israeli politics, Israel’s unwillingness to cede land and bitterness over this summer’s Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of 2,100 Palestinians.
When it was formed, the initiative had raised hopes that executives would play a leading role in pushing political leaders to accept a two-state solution, much as South African business people helped build momentum for the political settlement that ended apartheid.
In a joint declaration made at a World Economic Forum regional meeting in Jordan in May 2013, about 200 Israeli and Palestinian business leaders urged their leaders to show “boldness” in making peace, saying the impasse in efforts to create two states “endangers the economy and the social fabric of both nations”.
The initiative was designed to run in parallel with US-sponsored peace talks and a $4bn plan to revive the flagging Palestinian economy and reduce its reliance on Israel. John Kerry, US secretary of state, said Breaking the Impasse’s backers were “a courageous and visionary group of people”.
Palestinian business leaders who supported the initiative had faced criticism at home from those who opposed normalising economic ties with Israel in the absence of an independent Palestinian state. Many see any such move as collaboration with an occupying power.
Now the initiative’s Palestinian participants are frustrated after failing to secure agreement from their Israeli counterparts on principles of an independent future state in the West Bank and Gaza, which the Palestinians want to create inside the 1967 borders between Israel and occupied Palestinian lands.
“We took a major risk by dealing with them against all concepts of normalisation, but they weren’t willing to take any risk on universal values, ’67 borders, refugees or Jerusalem,” says Zahi Khouri, chairman of the National Beverage Company, the Palestinian Coca-Cola business. “It just didn’t work.”
Yossi Vardi, an Israeli businessman leading the initiative, insisted it was still active.
“We will stick to the original paradigm,” says Mr Vardi. “All of us agree on three things: that time is of the essence, two states are imperative, and whatever the leaders agree, we will support. We will continue to work toward these three things.”
However, Palestinian business leaders are now backing a boycott of goods made in Israeli settlements and a “buy local” movement that burgeoned in the West Bank during the Gaza war.
“The discussion in town is, ‘Did X store remove all the Israeli products, and why did Y store not,’”, says Sam Bahour, a business consultant in Ramallah. “We are being introduced to new Palestinian products that had not been on the market before, such as yoghurt and milk.”
In a sign that the boycott is putting pressure on Israeli companies, some have slashed prices in the West Bank to keep goods on store shelves.
However, the biggest Palestinian companies rely heavily on Israeli raw materials, electricity and bureaucratic goodwill, [AKA blackmail -- RFS] so are in a delicate position regarding any call for a blanket boycott of Israel.
“You can reduce dependency on Israeli products,” says one leading Palestinian businessman, who asks not to be named because of the sensitivity of relations with Israel. “Can you pull the plug on Israeli electricity? No, you cannot.”
Rawabi, a large Palestinian real estate development being built on a West Bank hilltop, illustrates the dilemma. Although large parts of it are built, it has been unable to accept residents on schedule because it is still waiting for Israeli permission to build a water main.
The growing disconnect between business people reflects broader divisions between Israeli and Palestinian society in the wake of the second intifada a decade ago and the building of the separation wall that snakes through the West Bank.
At the time, Israeli firms relied heavily on Palestinian migrant workers, and many business leaders there identified with an openly “pro-peace” lobby. Since then common interests have ebbed.
“Palestinian businessmen now just have business relations – transactions – with Israel,” says Samir Abdullah, director of research at the Palestine Economic Research Institute in Ramallah. “There is no dialogue going on.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3330...44feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3Dk5dwN4k
Breaking the Impasse, a group of leading Israeli and Palestinian business leaders formed last year with the aim of pressing their respective political leaders to make peace, has been put on hold indefinitely because of emotions inflamed by the war and what some participants say is a failure to agree on basic principles and goals.
“We are frozen at the moment,” says Samir Hulileh, chief executive of Padico, a leading Palestinian conglomerate and Breaking the Impasse participant. “We were polarised during the war and we felt there was very little to be shared. We are now freezing the relationship, and looking for alternatives.”
The initiative’s apparent problems reflect a broader trend towards unilateralism and introspection among Palestinians after the failure of the latest round of peace talks, which many feel cannot be revived because of rightwing dominance in Israeli politics, Israel’s unwillingness to cede land and bitterness over this summer’s Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of 2,100 Palestinians.
When it was formed, the initiative had raised hopes that executives would play a leading role in pushing political leaders to accept a two-state solution, much as South African business people helped build momentum for the political settlement that ended apartheid.
In a joint declaration made at a World Economic Forum regional meeting in Jordan in May 2013, about 200 Israeli and Palestinian business leaders urged their leaders to show “boldness” in making peace, saying the impasse in efforts to create two states “endangers the economy and the social fabric of both nations”.
The initiative was designed to run in parallel with US-sponsored peace talks and a $4bn plan to revive the flagging Palestinian economy and reduce its reliance on Israel. John Kerry, US secretary of state, said Breaking the Impasse’s backers were “a courageous and visionary group of people”.
Palestinian business leaders who supported the initiative had faced criticism at home from those who opposed normalising economic ties with Israel in the absence of an independent Palestinian state. Many see any such move as collaboration with an occupying power.
Now the initiative’s Palestinian participants are frustrated after failing to secure agreement from their Israeli counterparts on principles of an independent future state in the West Bank and Gaza, which the Palestinians want to create inside the 1967 borders between Israel and occupied Palestinian lands.
“We took a major risk by dealing with them against all concepts of normalisation, but they weren’t willing to take any risk on universal values, ’67 borders, refugees or Jerusalem,” says Zahi Khouri, chairman of the National Beverage Company, the Palestinian Coca-Cola business. “It just didn’t work.”
Yossi Vardi, an Israeli businessman leading the initiative, insisted it was still active.
“We will stick to the original paradigm,” says Mr Vardi. “All of us agree on three things: that time is of the essence, two states are imperative, and whatever the leaders agree, we will support. We will continue to work toward these three things.”
However, Palestinian business leaders are now backing a boycott of goods made in Israeli settlements and a “buy local” movement that burgeoned in the West Bank during the Gaza war.
“The discussion in town is, ‘Did X store remove all the Israeli products, and why did Y store not,’”, says Sam Bahour, a business consultant in Ramallah. “We are being introduced to new Palestinian products that had not been on the market before, such as yoghurt and milk.”
In a sign that the boycott is putting pressure on Israeli companies, some have slashed prices in the West Bank to keep goods on store shelves.
However, the biggest Palestinian companies rely heavily on Israeli raw materials, electricity and bureaucratic goodwill, [AKA blackmail -- RFS] so are in a delicate position regarding any call for a blanket boycott of Israel.
“You can reduce dependency on Israeli products,” says one leading Palestinian businessman, who asks not to be named because of the sensitivity of relations with Israel. “Can you pull the plug on Israeli electricity? No, you cannot.”
Rawabi, a large Palestinian real estate development being built on a West Bank hilltop, illustrates the dilemma. Although large parts of it are built, it has been unable to accept residents on schedule because it is still waiting for Israeli permission to build a water main.
The growing disconnect between business people reflects broader divisions between Israeli and Palestinian society in the wake of the second intifada a decade ago and the building of the separation wall that snakes through the West Bank.
At the time, Israeli firms relied heavily on Palestinian migrant workers, and many business leaders there identified with an openly “pro-peace” lobby. Since then common interests have ebbed.
“Palestinian businessmen now just have business relations – transactions – with Israel,” says Samir Abdullah, director of research at the Palestine Economic Research Institute in Ramallah. “There is no dialogue going on.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3330...44feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3Dk5dwN4k
