PNA has yet to decide on Qatar parley
The Palestine National Authority has yet to decide whether to attend or boycott the Doha International Economic Conference but many believe the question of Palestinian participation is not crucial at all. "It does not really matter whether we are in or out. Either way, there is nothing for us to gain," said Maher Masri, minister of economy and trade in the PNA.
Masri believes that the Palestinians will not face negative results if they remain out and yet do not expect positive results if they attend. "The political atmosphere does not encourage our participation in the conference but the final decision should be taken by the PNA cabinet and by President Arafat soon," he said.
Masri said the overall situation in the Arab world is subject to conditions that "neither fit the peace making efforts in the region nor the sense of peace and all because of the Israeli government and its policies." He noted that as far as the Arab countries are concerned "they can always sit down and discuss their economic affairs within the framework of the Arab League." He pointed out that just recently he had attended a meeting for Arab representatives who discussed free trade zones between the Arab countries.
Masri played down the significance of the Doha conference saying that the Arab countries are already hooked up to international trade agreements and contracts. Therefore, he said, the Doha conference is not going to form a qualitative leap and won't bring any economic advantages.
Palestinian sources expressed worry that the Doha economic conference might serve a springboard for Israeli attempts to penetrate the Arab boycott of the Israel. The sources said the conference might serve an appropriate venue for Israel to renew economic ties and forge new trade relations with countries that have so far kept a distance from Israel due to the present deadlock in the peace talks between the PNA, Syria and Lebanon on one hand and Israel on the other.
Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia had denied reports saying they had agreed to attend the Doha conference. An official spokesman of the Egyptian foreign ministry said the decision depends on changes in Israel's policy on the peace process. The Egyptian official was commenting on a statement made by a US State Department spokesman who claimed the US has a list of Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, that have said they were willing to attend the conference, even if with a low level representation.
A Palestinian official source said there was no point in attending the Doha conference "when the PNA is even unable to carry out its economic projects properly due to Israel's continued closure of the Palestinian territories and the extended siege that Israel has been imposing on the PNA areas." Economic development and prosperity, the source said, needs a proper atmosphere of peace "otherwise any discussion of economic cooperation not only remains ineffective but also becomes funny and loses more of its credibility." Asking to remain anonymous, the source said the PNA had hoped that Qatar would at least postpone the conference since it was not ready to cancel it. Yet, he noted, the ties between the PNA and Qatar are very good and the PNA would have to give "real deep thinking" before a decision is taken to boycott the conference. The source said the PNA might at the end decide to send its delegation to the conference but with clear instructions to expose Israel and disrupt any potential deals that the Israel is likely to cut during the two-day conference starting on 16 November.