Lebanon, Libya; Sudan, Yemen boycott speech of Israeli delegation in Dubai

Israel's presence at the meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Dubai was of restricted impact as expected to be, after the Israeli finance minister Benjamin Netaniahu decided not to take part.

Although the United Arab Emirates UAE officials received the Israeli delegation which came under the chairmanship of minister ( without portfolio) Maer Shatrit, the representatives of Lebanon, Libya, Sudan and Yemen boycotted the the Israeli minister at the inaguration of the official meetings of the governors of the WB and the IMF.

Shatrit said he had met with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Dubai's crown prince and the UAE defense minister on Monday at the reception for the delegations taking part in the meetings of the two financial institutions. Shatrit said "yesterday when I met him ( Sheikh Mohammed ) I said to him (Bravo) over what they have achieved.. it is very admirable." He continued "those persons prove to us that in a place such as that ( a desert), they have succeeded in establishing a developed economy and a very vast and courageous vision," noting that Sheikh Mohammed was "very happy" about what he had heard from Shatrit.

The Israeli minister added that Sheikh Mohammed asked me "is this better than that in Jordan? And I said yes." He continued "when we look back in recent decades to sums invested in wars in the Middle east, we see they reached at 200 billion dollars. This shows what might happen if we invest these sums in other sectors."