On the sidelines of the Palestine Investment Conference in London, Gamal Essam El-Din interviewed both Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and British Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa Bill Rammell As a follow-up to the Palestine Investment Conference held in Bethlehem in May this year, the British government hosted an investment conference, the London Business Forum on Trade and Investment with Palestine, in London on 15 December. The two-day event was the first of its kind for Palestinian business in the UK and aimed to build on the private sector interest in trade and investment in Bethlehem. On 16 December, follow-up events were held, including roundtable discussions and one-on-one meetings, focussing on financial services, infrastructure, tourism, information communications technology and Palestinian exports to the UK. The event also witnessed the official launch of the Palestine-Britain Business Council, made up of a select group of businessmen from the UK and the Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, the prime ministers of Britain and Palestine, Gordon Brown and Salam Fayyad, were there, holding a long meeting and press conference in which Brown publicly announced the UK's boycott of produce from illegal Israeli settlements. Brown even emphasised that the UK will do its best to convince other EU states to follow suit and declare their own boycott of the Israeli settlement produce. Other high-ranking British officials were keen to attend the conference, including former UK prime minister and current UN Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair, Secretary of State for Business Peter Mandelson, and Minister of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Gareth Thomas. The conference also drew 140 delegates from the British and Palestinian private sectors. 'Open for business' Since he came to office as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in June 2007, Salam Fayyad has always been described as a very controversial man. Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist-oriented movement which took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007, fiercely attacks Fayyad, describing him as "an Israeli-American invention" aimed at accelerating the process of normalisation with Israel at the expense of Palestinian rights. Western capitals and moderate Arabs, however, consider Fayyad as a symbol of a new generation of Palestinians who would not let economic development and cooperation remain hostage to the current deadlock in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. You are a very controversial prime minister. How would you introduce yourself? I was born in Nablus, Palestine in 1952. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the American University of Beirut in 1975. I received an MBA from St Edward's University in 1980 and a PhD in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1986. Before embarking on a political career, I worked for the International Monetary Fund from 1987- 2001, acting as resident representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from 1996-2001. I was appointed minister of finance in June 2002 and in January 2006 I was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council and served as chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee. In June and in the aftermath of Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip, I was appointed prime minister in the emergency government. I am also the minister of finance and foreign affairs. Is it the fact that you were educated in the West that makes Hamas describe you as an Israeli-American stooge? As a matter of fact, Hamas has always been interested in tarnishing my image. They do this with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. I do not care what Hamas says about me and I don't bother to respond to their verbal attacks on me. I am just sad that Hamas made the people of Gaza suffer very much. Although Hamas took over Gaza a year and a half ago, I consider myself responsible for improving the economic condition and daily life in both Gaza and the West Bank. But what about the accusations that you focus on economic conditions at the expense of politics and the struggle against the Israeli occupation? I agree that the solution of the Palestinian issue is primarily political. This, however, does not mean that we ignore the role of economy. As I said, I was appointed prime minister to improve the economic conditions of the Palestinians and to rebuild Palestinian institutions in order to be able to offer high-quality services to Palestinian citizens. To achieve this objective, Palestine should always be open for business. The Palestinian economy is capable of growing two or three times its current size. Peace and prosperity should go hand-in-hand; trade and the economy drive business and create jobs. The Palestinian Authority should be open to the developed world to be eligible for economic assistance from countries such as England and in order to attract a greater volume of private investments to Palestinian territories. As you know, the Israeli occupation primarily counts on settlements for expansion. If we to put an end to these settlements, we should do our best to ensure our people can make an adequate living. Do you know that more than 50,000 Palestinians have opted to leave Palestine in favour of living abroad since the 1967 setback? This contradicts the objective of convincing Palestinians to stay in Palestine and not to leave their land a prey to the expansion of Israeli settlements. Concerning the current Palestine Investment Conference in London, do you think that Britain is sincere about attracting investments to Palestine or just wants to exploit this conference to improve its image in the Middle East and the Arab world? The London Palestine Investment Conference greatly serves our objective of improving the economic conditions of the Palestinians. Within this context, the conference decided that a special fund of $50 million was established to spend on development projects in Palestine. As for Britain, the UK government decided to give Palestine 240 million pounds sterling over the next three years. This is a very important step because this money will pay the salaries of Palestinian employees in both the West Bank and Gaza, helping UNRWA supply food to the Palestinians and developing the Palestinian economy. Above all, however, the UK government led by Prime Minister Gordon Brown decided to boycott produce of illegal Israeli settlements. This is a very progressive position on the side of the UK government and we urge other European Union states to follow suit. In a letter sent to me, Prime Minister Brown emphasised that the UK is doing everything possible to discourage Israeli settlement expansion in terms of urging UK businesses not to invest or trade with Israeli settlements including denying services to UK businesses doing business with the settlements. It is the strongest position against Israeli settlements in Europe. But doesn't the UK position contradict this month's decision by the EU to raise its level of economic relations with Israel? Part of your question is quite correct. We are highly frustrated that on 8 December the EU Ministerial Council agreed to raise the level of its economic relations with Israel in the form of providing it with customs preferences and other privileges. The council decided last June that it would make the level of its economic relations with Israel conditional on the progress of its peace negotiations with the Palestinians and not expanding illegal settlements. As none of this has been realised, why did it decide to raise its economic relations with Israel? This is very frustrating. We count on the progressive UK position against Israeli settlements and British efforts to convince EU countries to do likewise to convince them to reverse their position. Our policy is not to shout at the European Union but to exert every logical effort to change it in our favour. Do you think that the London conference can convince British and European investors to come to Palestine at a time of severe global financial crisis and European economic slowdown? The Palestinian economy has never been integrated into the global economy and this is why I think that we will not feel the triggers of its current downturn. I don't think that Palestine will suffer from any global economic crisis. As for the London conference, it is a unique opportunity for potential UK investors to find out more about the local investment climate and to challenge the UK's perceptions about doing business in Palestine. In fact, in the first three months of this year, UK exports of goods to Palestine are up by more than 305 per cent to 2.3 million pounds sterling. British exports for the same period in 2007 were only 596,000 pounds sterling. The conference resulted in three major decisions: the establishment of the Palestine Britain Business Council, the Palestine Enterprise Revitalisation Fund, a confirmation that olive oil from Palestinian producers will carry the "Fairtrade" mark in 2009 for the first time ever. This will widen their market opportunities and open up access to British supermarkets, and should lead to a dramatic rise in sales and economic prosperity for Palestinian businesses and people. But won't this widen the economic gulf between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip? I agree that economic prosperity in the West Bank has increased while economic conditions in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated very much. All we can do about Gaza is to raise the level of salaries of employees there in a bid to prevent economic collapse. Hamas is to blame for the troubles in the Gaza Strip. Some Palestinians in Lebanon and supporters of Hamas accuse Egypt of cooperating with the Israelis in imposing an economic blockade on Gaza. Do you agree with these accusations? Arab League efforts led by Egypt to broker a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah were a golden opportunity to put an end to the catastrophic economic conditions in Gaza. I always believed that the Egyptian proposal formulated to put an end to the separation of Hamas was a very good beginning, but it is deplorable that Hamas did its best to undermine these efforts. I do not think that Egypt in any way tries to cause economic harm to the Palestinians living in Gaza. Egypt tried to put an end to internal Palestinian divisions in three steps: first, achieve a ceasefire truce between Hamas and Israel, second, conduct a reconciliation dialogue among Palestinian factions, and finally, open border crossings in an internationally accepted way. Hamas undermined all of these efforts. How do you see the future of the Palestinian authority in light of the upcoming Israeli elections next February and a new US administration next month? We made a lot of progress with the Israelis in 2008 and we hope we will build on this progress in 2009. Israel has a big role to play in improving conditions for the Palestinians because this works in its favour. Israel should stop its blockade on Gaza and its raids on West Bank cities and remove barricades. The worsening of conditions in Palestine will do a lot of harm to Israel at a time it is facing troubles with Lebanon, Syria and Iran. 'Leading the way' Bill Rammell was appointed minister just three months ago. He was previously minister of state for higher education. Rammell recently toured the Middle East, including Jordan, Algeria and Lebanon. He planned to visit Egypt but because Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abul-Gheit was not in the country at that time the visit was postponed. Rammell is currently preparing for a tour of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Why should the UK government be conducting a conference in London about Palestine? This is a very important conference for Britain and the UK government. We aimed to give a key message: Palestine is open for business and the UK is leading the way. How does the UK government see the political conditions in the Middle East? We give a high priority to the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis. We give special attention to the Arab League peace initiative announced in the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002. We also highly appreciate the recent message from the Arab League to US president-elect Barack Obama. The EU wholeheartedly welcomed this message and we think that all efforts should be exerted in the next stage to translate the peace initiative into action. I will go on a visit very soon to Palestine and Israel. We want an improvement in the economic conditions of the people of Gaza. The UK is the largest donor to the Palestinians, offering 243 million pounds sterling in the next three years. The UK has recently hosted a number of students from Gaza and the West Bank and made it easier for them to attend British universities. We are ready to do everything possible to help the region overcome its political and economic problems. We will try our best to coordinate with the new US administration led by Barack Obama for achieving tangible progress in the Middle East peace. How do you see the Israeli policy of expanding settlements? The UK government has publicly condemned this policy and we urged the European Union to take a position against doing business with illegal Israeli settlements. There have been many European and American calls urging Arab countries, especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to democratise and show more respect for human rights. What about these calls now? We strongly believe that democratisation and respect of human rights is the solution to most of the political and economic ills in the Middle East. We, however, do not believe in imposing any agenda of political and democratic reform on the countries of the Middle East. In the same way, we believe that political activists in Arab countries have the right to file complaints with UN agencies on abuses of human rights in their countries. The UK government will also continue giving financial support to a number of civil society organisations in the Middle East. Most of the people on the street in Arab countries have a negative view about Britain's attitude towards Islam. They think that there is some kind of discrimination against Muslims living in the United Kingdom. I admit that there are some negative impressions in Muslim countries about the conditions of Muslims in the UK. But do you know that Muslims living in the UK have the privilege of enjoying more rights than they have in their native countries? British society shows a high level of tolerance towards all kinds of religions. The number of Muslims in the UK currently is 1.6 million and approaching two million. The UK is especially keen that all kinds of minorities live peacefully in Britain. Egypt is trying to join the G8 group within the framework of the current efforts aimed at reforming a number of international institutions. Egypt got the support of France and Italy for joining this club. How do you see this issue? One of the UK government's priorities is reforming a number of effective international institutions such as the G8 group. These institutions should be reformed to give a voice to emerging and developing countries such as Egypt. Egypt is a great partner to the UK and the European Union, and we in the UK government always want Egypt to assume a bigger role on the international arena, reflecting its huge political weight, its old history and the high capacity of its diplomacy. What is the UK's policies towards Iraq? We are trying to reach a new security agreement with the Iraqi government like the one the US concluded there. Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Iraq in the last few weeks and announced that England would pull most of its troops from Iraq by May 2009. The UK is standing firmly against Iran's nuclear ambitions. This makes some Muslims believe that Britain is doing its best to prevent Muslim countries from possessing nuclear technology necessary to develop their life. In fact, we truly believe that Iran has the right to develop a peaceful nuclear energy programme. The problem is that Iran insists on adopting a different course. It violated five UN resolutions on its nuclear power programme and announced publicly that it will not stop enriching uranium as a step towards producing nuclear weapons. We (the West and the US) are not the only ones expressing strong doubts about Iran's nuclear programme. Many Arabs, especially Iraqis and Gulf people, expressed fears about the possibility of Iran possessing nuclear weapons. This possibility will deal a deafening blow to all those aiming to find pragmatic and peaceful solutions to the problems of the Middle East, and will put the entire region on an explosive course. Iran has two options: relinquishing the enrichment programme and fully cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency, or facing the threat of greater international sanctions and isolation.
