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Foreign Ministers of Japan, Jordan, Israel and a Palestinian senior delegation meeting in Jericho to launch the peace corridor project

The Foreign Ministers of Japan, Jordan, and Israel held a meeting in Jericho yesterday with a Palestinian senior delegation to launch the Peace Corridor Project and establish a joint Palestinian-Israeli industrial-agricultural zone in the Jordan Valley through Japanese funding. The meeting took place amid Palestinian-Israeli disagreements on core issues related to implementation. The Palestinian delegation included Dr. Saeb Erekat, Head of Negotiations Department in the PLO, and Minister of Planning Dr. Samir Abdallah, and Minister of National Economy Kamal Hassouneh. The officials didn’t talk about a set date for start of the project but said that technical teams will meet in October. Palestinian Deputy FM Ahmad Suboh said the industrial-agricultural zone will include canning factories and a new commercial bridge over Jordan River and an airport for the Palestinian goods on the Jordanian side of the borders. He explained that disagreements still persist between the Palestinian and Israeli sides on the exact location of the project and the sovereignty over the bridge, stressing that progress will depend on the political climate between both sides.

Erekat said: we have said in the meeting that those who seek peace have to achieve peace away from the occupation components, such as the settlements and the wall and we gave an example on what is happening in Jericho as 80% of the water from the district is controlled by the Israeli side and the Palestinian people are prevented to use this water and then the Israelis come and sell us our water, and we talked about the home demolition in this region and the repeated attacks of the settlers and we said it very clearly that settlements and peace are two parallel lines that will never meet and Japan expressed it very clearly that if peace prevails here and if occupation ends, Japan is ready to support the prosperity of the region.

Jericho Governor Ureef al-Ja'bari who participated in the meeting said Israel has to respect the signed agreements and implement them on the ground because we cannot talk about a peace corridor and any projects in the name of peace in theory only, this is not enough, we need concrete actions and Palestinians have to enjoy control over their lands and must be granted their right to freedom of movement to build the confidence needed for such projects to succeed.

In the meantime, PM Dr. Salam Fayyad signed with Japanese FM yesterday at the Council of Ministers Headquarters in Ramallah a cooperation agreement reaching $20 million. An amount of $11.2 million will be allocated to support the PNA budget while the rest will be used to cover humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people through the UNRWA and to rehabilitate Taibeh-Jeircho road with $1.3 million.

Published at Al Quds NewsPaper on August 16, 2007