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From : chiwassu3923
Added: Apr 14, 2009
Israelis, Palestinians look to economic progress in Japan by Shingo Ito TOKYO (AFP) - Israeli and Palestinian envoys said Wednesday that improving the economy can revive the peace process as they got to work on a Japanese initiative to create jobs in the West Bank. In four-way talks in Tokyo involving Jordan and Japan, the two sides agreed to move ahead with the Japanese project to build a business park to help ease the income gap between Palestinians and Israelis. "This is the first time in the Middle East that we took the economy as the top subject of negotiations parallel to the political" issues, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said. "It is just a first step but a step in the right direction," Peres said. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso also announced another 12.6 million dollars in fresh aid to support Palestinian efforts to improve medical care and job creation. "We have agreed to establish a four-nation consultative body to proceed with this project," Aso said after the first day of the two-day conference. "It is important that we swiftly produce something concrete, even if it's small, and then work on it," Aso said. "We don't believe that this initiative by itself will automatically bring peace," Aso said. "But I'm convinced that our country's efforts and the enthusiasm of people here will lead in the end to peace and prosperity in the Middle East." He spoke after closed-door talks with Peres, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and Faruq Kasrawi, an adviser to Jordan's King Abdullah II. "A better relationship, even in the economic domain, will have an extremely positive impact upon the political negotiations," said Peres, a former premier and Nobel peace laureate. "While we are negotiating diplomatically and strategically, we have to build at the same time," he added. Seeking a greater role on the global stage, Japan -- the world's second largest economy -- has become a major financial contributor to the Middle East peace process, portraying itself as a neutral party. The Japanese project would include an agro-industrial park in the West Bank and a facility in Jordan to help distribute the goods. Aso said Japan would send a fact-finding mission this month to select the exact location for the project and that the four sides would hold another meeting in June. Erakat said concrete action such as the Japanese initiative, dubbed the "the Corridor for Peace and Prosperity," could complement the wider peace negotiations. "We don't need to waste our time," he said. "It's time for decisions. We have done the negotiations," he said. "Let us find the reason in order to make the decisions. I see the ideas of the corridor of peace and prosperity as a future." But Erakat stressed that reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis remains the ultimate goal. "For confidence building, economic problems and the Corridor for Peace, it's all about one thing -- peace between the Palestinians and Israelis," he said. Japan has close commercial relations with many Arab nations and Iran as it imports nearly all of its oil from the Middle East. Tokyo has been one of the largest contributors to the Palestinian Authority since the landmark 1993 Oslo accords. The economic plan is "part of the long-term effort to achieve coexistence and prosperity between the two people," said Japan's special Middle East envoy Tatsuo Arima, who took part in the talks. "Through this idea, Japan hopes to provide a sense of hope and trust among the people of the region," Arima said.
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