Ramallah, Palestine – The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) intends to promote in Brazil, in the first half of 2010, a conference on business and investment opportunities in the Palestinian territories under Israeli occupation (ANP). The action counts on support from the Brazilian and Spanish governments, and was announced last Saturday (14th) by the minister of Foreign Affairs of the PNA, Riad Malki, to the president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Salim Taufic Schahin, during a meeting in Ramallah, in the West Bank.
According to Malki, the idea for the conference was launched by himself and the Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, and readily accepted by the Brazilian minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim. The intention is to bring together Palestinian businessmen, PNA representatives, and members of the communities of Palestinian and Arab origin in South America, in order to present important projects to the economic development of the occupied territories.
During the meeting accompanied by ANBA, the PNA minister stated that the objective of the conference is to encourage the establishment of business partnerships that will help strengthen the Palestinian economy. “Our Chamber is going to help in whatever it can,” said Schahin, who had two days of meetings with Palestinian political and entrepreneurial leaders after heading a Brazilian mission to Jordan.
Prior to the event, the PNA is going to submit to the Brazilian government and business organizations a series of projects eligible for partnerships, so that possible interested parties may be evaluated. The initiative is part of a broader plan of the PNA for strengthening the Palestinian economy and institutions, and for laying the foundations to the establishment of an independent state.
Over the next two years, the plan provides for actions geared towards economic, institutional, legal and infrastructure development, and professional training. In case the peace process with Israel does not move forward, by the end of that period, the PNA intends to request for the UN Security Council to issue the Palestinian declaration of independence.
“The international community must rule that Israel has not fulfilled its obligations and declare independence,” said Malki. He added that the international community should address the matter from the point of view of international law, and not because it “feels sorry” for the Palestinians.
Disbelief
In Palestine, there is a sense of disbelief in the peace process due to the internal divisions between the PNA, which controls the West Bank, and the Islamic movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip; and to the intransigence of the new conservative Israeli government, led by prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who insists on continuing to build Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“We are the only people still living under occupation and the world needs to pressure Israel. It is a shame for the international community to allow this to happen,” said the foreign minister.
After the second Intifada (Palestinian rebelion), in September 2000, the Israeli government increased the pressure on the occupied territories by building a wall of over 800 kilometres of extension separating the West Bank from Israel, including Jerusalem, and by increasing the number of checkpoints, which currently exceed 600. The Palestinians need authorization from the Israeli government in order to cross the border.
To Malki, Israel is not interested in ending the occupation because it is profitable. “We are the second largest market for Israel,” said the foreign minister, who added that sales of Israeli products to the occupied territories total US$ 4.5 billion per year.
The role of Brazil
In that respect, he insisted that if there is no international pressure, then Israel will not grant independence to Palestine. In order to encourage the resumption of the peace process, Malki called for more countries to enter the quartet – a group of negotiators comprised of United States, European Union, Russia and the UN –, including Brazil, which wishes to play a more active role in the matter.
“I have heard many important comments [by president Luiz Inácio] Lula [da Silva],” stated the foreign minister. To him, the inclusion of large emerging countries in the process, such as the remaining BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), will be beneficial. “We need to articulate ourselves, the inclusion [of the BRICs] in any peace process will add value [to negotiations],” he added.
The matter should be discussed with Lula during the visit that the PNA president, Mahmoud Abbas, is paying to Brazil this week. “Perhaps after the meeting with Abbas, [president] Lula may present some new idea,” said Malki.
Lula recently received the Israeli president, Shimon Perez, in in Brasília (the Brazilian capital), and according to the Palestinian foreign minister, this goes to show that the two parties in the conflict are ascribing an importance to Brazil.
Schahin said that the Palestinian and Arab communities living in countries such as Brazil can put pressure governments into helping the peace process. To Malki, such an influence is important, gven that since 1967, after the Six-Day War, Israel “has been one-sidedly imposing” its policy on the occupied territories, without meeting the demands of the international community.
He added that even though he believes in the commitment of the United States president, Barack Obama, to the peace process, the United States has not yet shown enough involvement, especially concerning stopping the spread of Israeli settlements. “We must not leave the North Americans alone,” declared the foreign minister, upon calling for greater commitment of the countries in the G-20, a group comprised of the world’s 20 largest economies, and of the Arab nations themselves. “If other countries come along, then [the process] is going to be activated,” he said.
The meeting was also attended by the Brazilian ambassador to the PNA, Ligia Maria Scherer, the advisor to the Brazilian representation office in Ramallah, Ricardo José Leal, the advisor for Latin America at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Palestine, Munjed Saleh, and the Arab Brazilian Chamber director, Mustapha Abdouni.
After the meeting with Malki, Schahin also put flowers on the grave of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
