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Palestinians walk in the West Bank village of Bani Naim.

Shaky Hopes

COLBURN GROUP

The Palestinian Authority's chief economic
negotiator, Mohammed Shtayyeh, discusses the
Palestinians' financial plight.

I N S U R A NC E

Leslie E. Colburn 41, Harry S. Colburn
Pamela Colburn Haron

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D

r. Mohammed Shtayyeh
wears two of the most im-
portant hats in the Pales-
tinian Authority. Since its
establishment early in 1994, he
has headed the Palestinian Eco-
nomic Council for Development
and Reconstruction (PECDAR),
and he leads the Palestinian del-
egation to the Multilateral Eco-
nomic Cooperation Working
Group (REDWEG) along with
his Israeli, Jordanian and Egypt-
ian counterparts.
An academic by training who
is currently enjoying a two-year
sabbatical from lecturing on Mid-
dle East economics at Bir Zeit
University, Mr. Shtayyeh was
the head of the Palestinian ne-
gotiating team at Madrid, and
was also responsible for over-
seeing the first Palestinian elec-
tions. He describes himself as an
average Palestinian who sup-
ported the PLO and now backs
the PA.
PECDAR, which was estab-
lished on an interim basis and is
directly answerable to PA Chair-
man Yassir Arafat, is responsi-
ble for financing PA ministries,
offering technical advice and
training to its employees, fun-
neling international aid to pub-
lic-sector investment programs,
overseeing infrastructure recon-
struction, and analyzing the
Palestinians' economic situation.

Q: It now appears as
though the Cairo economic
summit will take place as
planned in November. Do

you believe that Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak's
threats to cancel were mere-
ly a bluff?
A: No, I think the Egyptian po-

sition was very sincere, and we
share their view on this, because
what is the point of holding the
Cairo summit if the reality on the
ground is a total collapse? It is
not possible to speak about a vi-
sion for the Middle East and to
really bring the region together
if Israel itself does not want to be
Middle Easternized. There are
two tracks to the negotiations:
the bilateral — Palestinian-Is-
raeli and so on, and the multi-
lateral, which is supposedly the
driving force for the bilateral.
The multilateral should not be
going ahead while the bilateral
is at an impasse. What is the
point of having diplomatic rela-
tions between Israel and Qatar,
for example, if the Palestinian is-
sue is not settled? If there will be
no progress on the ground, then
the Cairo summit will be no more
than an exchange of business
cards. It will be fruitless. I think
an important message must be
put across here: If the West Bank
and Gaza are not ready for busi-
ness, then Israel is not ready for
business, nor is Jordan, nor the
whole of the region.

Q: How much have the
events of the past few weeks
damaged the message that
the Middle East is ready for
business?
A: The events did very serious