Israeli-Palestinian business cooperation

Israeli-Palestinian business cooperation
By Prof. Liora Katzenstein, President, ISEMI

Updated: 17.8.14

Short paper synopsis on: "The Place of Business in Seeking Sustainable Future for the Israeli and Palestinian people"
In this paper it will be argued that advancing economic well-being is a strong contributor to promoting peace.
The paper will draw from international examples that evidence that good economic relations combined with increased personal well-being, actually contributes to promoting peace, often times better and quicker than sophisticated diplomatic deliberations.
Special attention will be given to advancing this argument in relation to joint Israeli and Palestinian economic activities, ranging from employing Palestinians in various Israeli Industries, mainly construction, agriculture and the service industry, to the successful industrial parks in the border crossings in Gaza and the West bank, as well as joint industrial production plans in Jordan and Egypt. These are the overt efforts towards economic collaboration between Palestinians and Israelis.
This paper will also relate to the covert economic relations between various Israeli and Arab companies, for example those from the Gulf region.