In a recent panel discussion under the auspices of the “Business for Peace” competition sponsored by Diane and Guilford Glazer at the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management at BGU, Nader Tamimi, Chair of the Association of Traditional Industries in the PA, declared that because of the checkpoints between the PA and Israel it cost more to send a container from Hebron to Haifa than from Haifa to Germany.
The purpose of the May 17th panel was to discuss the importance of cross border business interactions. Organized by Prof. Rafi Bar-El, Prof. Dafna Schwartz and Dr. Miki Malul of the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management GGFBM, the panel included Nader Tamimi of Hebron; Avi Nudelman, CEO of the Israeli-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce IPCC, Muhyeddin "Muhi" Sayed Ahmad - P.R. Coordinator, Hebron Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Jihad Alubra, Director of MATI Business Development Center for the Bedouin Settlements and Dr. Ofir Rubin from the Department of Public Policy and Administration. Dr. Malul served as moderator.
Panel members emphasized the importance of holding business meetings between both parties, as Avi Nudelman stated, these meetings have the power to serve as “ice breakers” and to strengthen the personal ties that are almost non-existent today. Yet, he also noted that large Israeli companies maintain significant business ties worth hundreds of millions of shekels with companies in the Palestinian Authority. He said that parties on both sides were interested in engaging in business relations, but were unable to find the platform to facilitate such interactions.
Tamimi gave some concrete examples of the trade ties that already exist. For example, today artisans in Hebron manufacture Judaica (Kiddush cups and Seder dishes) for Jews from Israel and the entire world. He added that, despite the current atmosphere, there are regular interactions between Palestinian and Israeli businessmen. Tamimi also shared his frustration that the younger generations on both sides were not familiar with one another. He suggested that the Israeli government allow tours for Israeli businessmen within the PA and for Palestinian businessmen within Israel in order to allow both sides to learn about the other, and in this way to create a wider forum for joint business opportunities.
Muhi Sayed Ahmad noted that trade exists today in both directions: on the one hand, the transfer of merchandise from the Palestinian territories to Israeli markets (for example, he noted that shoes that are manufactured within the PA are sold in Tel Aviv as luxury footwear) and on the other hand, technologies from Israel that are transferred to the PA (for example, cherry tomato production in the PA). According to Ahmad, the pace of transferring technologies in agriculture could be accelerated by offering tours of Israeli farms to Palestinian farmers in order to facilitate the more efficient transfer of agricultural technology. He added that Palestinians are exposed to new technologies and that today, many have Internet and smart phone access, which allows for faster and better communications between both sides.
He told the panel about the website he runs, where Palestinian produce is offered for sale. The website allows Israeli businessmen and foreign business entities to make business deals with manufacturers from the Palestinian Authority through the website’s network.
Jihad Alubra said Arab Israelis in general, and Bedouins in particular, often act as mediators in business interactions between Israelis and Palestinians because of their ability to bridge gaps created by prevailing mistrust between the parties and because of their ability to travel relatively freely to the PA territories.
In response to the question, “In which fields do the best chance exist for successful business cooperation between both parties?” Nudelman answered the field of software, where many Israeli and other foreign companies already outsource their software needs to Palestinian software companies. He said many Palestinians were interested in much broader cooperation with these companies. He added that the growth of an educated workforce in the PA might help expand this cooperation as more sophisticated tasks are transferred to Palestinian companies.
Ahmad stressed the advantages of the close physical proximity between the Israeli and Palestinian economies, and the ability to supply in a short amount of time finished products and intermediate products from the PA to Israel. In his opinion, this potential has not yet been taken advantage of to the fullest, and new ways must be thought of to increase these opportunities rather than seeking trade partners in more distant countries. A necessary condition for this to occur would be to ease restrictions on the passage of goods from the PA into Israel, he contended.
Dr. Miki Malul explained that there is a knowledge gap among Israelis regarding Palestinians - particularly with regards to its business sector. “These kinds of meetings contribute to narrowing the gaps and thus promote economic ties that are a factor in making peace between both parties,” he said.
