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$1bn Middle East peace offer
07/12/2006 15:53 - (SA)
Jerusalem - In a new Middle East initiative, an Israeli businessman is offering the Palestinian prime minister $1bn if he and his Israeli counterpart can sit down and reach a peace agreement.
Billionaire businessman Avi Shaked, who made his fortune running internet gambling sites, says he has lined up a consortium of international financiers who are ready to inject the money immediately if a deal is struck.
An initial instalment of $100m would be made if Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh - a Hamas leader - and Israel's Ehud Olmert can just manage to sit down and start talking.
Odds on the initiative succeeding would appear to be slim.
Hamas advocates the Jewish state's destruction and Israel regards the movement as a terrorist group.
"The killing must be stopped," Shaked said in an interview on Wednesday to explain a plan that he says even has the approval of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
First 10% to be invested immediately
"My initiative is to both leaders: please sit down, start negotiations and try to reach an agreement.
"The moment that both sides will reach an agreement, this private equity that I am offering will immediately invest $1bn. The first 10% will be invested immediately when the negotiations start."
Shaked, 53, a supporter of Israel's centre-left Labour party who has launched peace initiatives in the past, says his latest is a serious proposal that could see up to one million new jobs created in the impoverished Palestinian territories.
Shaked wants the money to bring the Palestinian economy up to the standards of the Israelis, putting the sides on a level footing and doing away with the poverty that helps fuel the conflict.
"We are almost the same people, we are cousins, why can't we start to talk," he said.
International sanctions
Haniyeh, who is on a tour of the Middle East to try to raise money for his government, hamstrung for the past nine months by international sanctions, was reported to have rejected the offer on Tuesday.
But Shaked said he understood Haniyeh and Hamas, which has run the Palestinian government since March after winning elections, were considering the proposal.
Israel's government was more dismissive of the initiative, with an official saying it was already committed to long-standing proposals such as the US-backed "road map".
"With all respect, this is not something you do with millionaire's money," said the official, who asked not to be named. "This is a government that answers to an electorate."
Olmert has said he will not negotiate with Hamas. He has said, however, that he will talk to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, a more moderate party and rival to Hamas.
Attempts to set up a meeting between the two in recent months have so far borne no fruit.
But Shaked says he is fully committed to making something work with his fortune.
"I have made a lot of money, but I am ready to spend it all if it will lead to peace," he said.
- Reuters
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