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The Judea-Samaria Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JSCOCI), an NGO that promotes Israeli-Palestinian business partnerships beyond the Green Line (cease-fire line prior to 1967), recently organized an event in Ariel, an Israeli city in Samaria. After the US ambbadador to Israel, David Friedman, attended the event, a number of media outlets wrote: "It is rare for US envoys in Israel to report to the West Bank in an official capacity.
What these media should have written is that was rare.
Friedman's visit to Ariel should be seen as an extension of the foreign policy of the current US administration regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, made it clear, not only in words, but in deeds, that he considered the diplomatic approach of the Arab-Israeli conflict venerated by his predecessors as mistaken and erroneous.
After the event, Friedman wrote on Twitter: "At the invitation of the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce, I met with Ariel Palestinian and Israeli business leaders ready, willing and able to advance the opportunities common and peaceful coexistence. People want peace and we are ready to help! Does the Palestinian leadership listen?
Avi Zimmerman, founder and president of JSCOCI, told JNS that the organization aimed to "generate opportunities for economic prosperity in the region. We see it as a geographical and not a political area. We need to integrate everyone in the region and our board includes Palestinians and Israelis. "
Zimmerman said that while the organization is active on a regular basis, it's when both communities do something that gets the most attention.
A delegation of American investors came to meet the organization, and Zimmerman wanted to seize the opportunity to meet investors and share the idea of creating businesses together. "If we can build these relationships beyond our region, whether in the Middle East or the Atlantic, we are looking for these opportunities," he said.
While many Palestinians simply want to earn a living and raise families – and are therefore willing to do business with Israelis – a strong fear factor remains. According to the Palestinian Authority, any trade deal with Israelis is illegal and punishable by both fine and imprisonment. law.
Nevertheless, more than 70 Palestinian companies, including transport and logistics, car dealerships, stone quarries and product producers, work with JSCOCI, which also represents a large number of Palestinian companies that can not to be heard.
"It's very difficult for them to publicly announce these relationships," Zimmerman said. "We are careful not to publish names and images. In the lead up to the event, many images could not be made public. "
This is unfortunate because many, if not most, Palestinian civilians simply want to feed themselves and their families. The corrupt leadership led by P.A. The leader Mahmoud Abbas clearly does not represent their wishes and those of the majority.
"[Some] 90 to 95% of the Palestinian street is in this camp [wanting] economic partnership and prosperity, "said Zimmerman.
"The inevitable economic future"
David Weinberg, Vice President of the Jerusalem Institute of Strategic Studies, told JNS: "We need to link the economic meeting to the recent announcement that the US Consulate in Jerusalem has been transferred to the Embbady in Jerusalem, as well as the increasingly frequent talks of Ambbadador Friedman. pbad on the green line. The United States is acting to ensure that they speak with one voice on Israeli-Palestinian issues. No more mixed diplomacy with dichotomous messages to the parties. I think the administration indicates that the West Bank is not entirely Palestinian. Any peace agreement will involve sovereign Jewish areas. "
These types of partnerships, in which Israelis and Palestinians have commercial relations, help to prove that the general Palestinian public does not support AP's anti-normalization efforts.
According to Weinberg, "Israeli-Palestinian partnerships are the inevitable economic future".
The US administration has made enormous progress in helping Israel to clarify to the international community that Jews enjoy at least equal rights over the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.
Regarding the Middle East, Weinberg pointed out the "terrible [Bill] Clinton and [Barack] The Obama presidencies and their unrealistic peace paradigms are examples of mistaken diplomacy that has turned out to be a wrong approach.
"A realistic peace diplomacy," he said, "implies recognition of the existence of legitimate and sovereign rights over Judea and Samaria."
With regard to Israel's presence in the disputed territories and Friedman's trip to that country, Weinberg stressed that "the Green Line is not sacrosanct".
He said that by clarifying his position on the Arab-Israeli conflict, the administration "is helping to repackage the global diplomatic community."
The Trump administration, Weinberg stressed, "contributes to the realistic discourse on peace".
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