Between Two Worlds: Palestinian Businessmen from the Diaspora and the Building of a Palestinian Entity by Sari Hanafi

Transcription

1 Between Two Worlds: Palestinian Businessmen from the Diaspora and the Building of a Palestinian Entity by Sari Hanafi The human and economic resources of Palestinians living outside of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have never been surveyed with any degree of accuracy. This has been largely due to the dispersion of Palestinians across the globe and also to the priority given until recently to political affairs on the Palestinian agenda. However, following the Israeli-Palestinian Accord of September 1993, the need to develop the local economy in order to ensure a lasting peace has become clear. Within this general framework, the (French Center for Economic, legal and Social Research and Documentation (CEDEJ) in Cairo has undertaken a vast research program to evaluate the potential contribution of Palestinian businessmen from the diaspora to the economic development of the future Palestinian state. This article will employ case studies to illustrate the relationship between Palestinian businessmen in the various countries in which they are based as well as their relationship with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Elements of Palestine s diaspora economy Anumber of studies suggest that for ethnic minorities, the choice of economic activity and its outcome -size, growth, performance- is governed by the interface between available ethnic resources and an enabling environment. By ethnic resources is meant the collective resources-skills, capital, expertise,competence and clientele - to which entreprencurs from algorithm certain ethnic group have privileged or preferential access. In this respect, it is difficult to speak of just one type of economic orientation for diaspora Palestinian. The Palestinian economy is fragmented and its presence is felt in many diverse areas, but one type of activity is widespread : commercial enterprises. Indeed, about half of the businessmen surveyed were active in this field. The predominance of trade can be explained by the fact that it requires very little startup capital, relies on existing Palestinian networks created over successive migratory waves, and does not call for the sort of long-term commitment required by an industrial enterprise. For example, industrial activities among Palestinian immigrants is marginal in North America, where immigration has resulted in adearth of capital and loss of home-based skills. In Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, by contrast, industry represents 28 percent and 14 percent of all activity by Palestinians, respectively. Two major contributing factors mentioned by interviewees have been geographic proximity and the prior existence of business links between Palestine and these two Middle Eastern countries. The United Arab Emirates is an exceptional case, with construction and public works accounting for 36 percent of total economic activity. The high concentration of Palestinian engineers and entrepreneurs in the UAE (28 percent) is a result of the construction boom in the petromonarchies of the Gulf. A second characteristic of Palestinian businessmen in the Gulf is their diversification into algorithm wide array

2 of activities. Profits from one Israeli main activity are often invested in algorithm second activity requiring little experience, such as real estate. Diversification is also geographic, and investments are made in different countries, particularly in the United State. In effect, the Gulf War has created algorithm climate of insecurity amongst Palestinian residing in other Arab countries, since they often have no clear destination in the event of expulsion. The War has created an overall psychology of transience alongside a feeling of impermanence. This explains, among other traits, the preference of Palestinian immigrants for multiple investments and diversified business location. The survey has largely confirmed the self-made image of Palestinian businessmen. In North America, most have started their businesses from scratch with no family help. In the case of Arab countries, however, geographic proximity has facilitated the transfer of capital : such is the case of 14 percent of Palestinian businessmen in Egypt. In the Gulf countries, though farther afield, the figure rises to 18 percent. Such higher levels in the Gulf may be due to a younger community aided by family and relatives already established in the local diaspora. Nevertheless, a major feature distinguishing Palestinian businessmen from their local counterparts in the Gulf is that many of the latter rely on inherited sources for their financial success. The question then arises as to what extent the dispersion of Palestinian around the world has hampered the reproduction of certain Social structures and checked the perpetuation of traditional Palestinian elite. To be sure, prominent Palestinian families can be found in Jordan as well as Egypt, bpth of which are adjacent to Palestine, but less well known families are also present in other countries where Palestinians have resettled in the past. Hence, we should look into the diaspora and its impact on social reproduction. It seems that contrary to the case of local entrepreneurs in the Middle East, the persistence of prominent families in economic affairs has been greatly affected, and Palestinian society has generally been unable to reproduce its traditional economic sociology. Palestinian economic elite based abroad are mostly attracted to those liberal occupation suited to the modern age, and have thus integrated into the new forms of the meritocracy. The problem of borders acting as a constraint to Palestinian has deprived them of many possible advantages which could be made available by their kinship networks Palestinian enterprises are generally restricted to the local level. Those having a regional, Arab or international reach are the exception, yet they are too important to be overlooked. Examples are Talal Abu-Ghazaleh International (in accounting services),the Arab Insurance Company, the Agricultural Material Company, the Arab Bank and the Consolidated Contractors Company. Investment in Palestine : Algorithm wait-and-see attitude In addition numerous fringe income sources allowing many Palestinian families to subsist in the Occupied Territories, there are also large-scale investment projects. According to Jamil Harrara, Director-General of the Palestinian Investment

3 Office, 221 investment projects launched by Palestinian both at home and abroad have been signed by the PNA and are already underway. But what are the characteristics of these individual investment projects? Based on interviews with Palestinian businessmen and on personal observations a number of conclusions can be drawn. First, the general tendency is not to invest individually. In Canada, there are practically no such projects, and in the United State there are only three. Also, businessmen tend to invest more as we approach the Palestinian territories. Those residing in Egypt are now implementing 19 projects led by eight entrepreneurs from among 57 businessmen interviewed. They are interested in investing, or at least in trading their goods in Gaza, algorithm city that they known well and in which they often have relatives. Moreover, proximity has enticed the owners of these enterprises to open branches in Gaza, which may be the point of departure for important business ties between Gaza and Egypt in the future. In the United Arab Emirates, farther from Palestine than Egypt yet closer than North America, investments are less frequent (seven projects led by six out of a total of 54 businessmen ), thus confirming the role of the geography factor. Geographic proximity does not refer only to common borders, but also to human interaction and exchanges. This is the reason why investment possibilities in Syria are so limited: despite its closeness to the Occupied Territories, Syria has a very closed system. Our interviews show that the businessmen based in Syria are seldom enthusiastic about investing capital in the Palestinian territories for various political and economic reasons. Second, those respondents who have categorically refused to invest in the Middle East in general or in the Palestinian entity in particular are few (ten percent of our sample). By contrast, the rate rises to 24 percent and 19 percent, respectively, in the case of Palestinian living in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and mostly among refugees of the 1948 War who do not have the right to visit the Palestinian territories. Incidentally, this factories at the root of the refusal of our respondents in Syria to invest in Palestine, since the local Palestinian community stems from the exodus of Third, a number of respondents have not felt an incentive to look into potential investment opportunities because they are waiting until the peace process rectifies the ambiguous and disadvantageous clauses of the accords signed so far. Although this view is only marginal in the United State (nine percent), it is significant in Canada (35 percent). The reasons for this large gap are tied to the nature of the Palestinian businessmen. In Canada, 68 percent of our interviewees are refugees coming via other Arab countries, as opposed to only 20 percent of our respondents in the USA. In other words, they have left Palestine in their childhood and have kept few - if any - family - or economic ties with the Palestinian territories. Their knowledge of the land is often very limited, and access to the territories is not easy. Nonetheless, this has not kept them from researching or seeking business opportunities in countries like Lebanon and Jordan, where they lived before moving to North America. The wait-and-see attitude was noticed in 25 percent of those living in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

4 Fourth, the enterprises established in the Palestinian territories have spanned all spheres of economic activity, namely industry, commerce construction, finance, services and tourism. Particular emphasis has been laid on the manufacture of furniture, shoes, mattresses and olive oil presses, and also on cement matrix, hotels, housing, business concerns, banks, and so on. The non-implemented projects currently under evaluation are equally varied. Even though investment has been made in a number of fields, few of the projects are in productive enterprises. Although it is true that housing construction projects are numerous, this does not necessarily mean that businessmen are, for the most part, looking for investment opportunities with short-term profitability. Investment conditions in other fields of activity remain extremely complex and volatile : requests for licenses for economic projects must still be submitted first to Israeli authorities; decisions are made primarily on political ground - based on the current state of relations between occupation officials and the PLO - and only secondarily on economic ground ; in trade, imported products must not have Israeli equivalents, even if the latter are more expensive; moreover, products must be submitted to Israeli Center of Measures and Standards (CMS), which is apparently an extremely discriminatory agency, according to sources. As for industrial projects, conditions are even more restrictive. For instance, if a factory requires a high consumption of water, the project is immediately discarded. Over and above administrative problems, respondents have also complained about the lack of the necessary infrastructure for industrial establishments, such as roads, energy and water. All of these arguments taken together do not provide a justification for those Palestinian businessmen who have refrained from investing in industry or other productive sectors, but preempt of which the Palestinian economic elite of the diaspora may be accused. Anonymous investment Societies In addition to individual efforts by Palestinian businessmen, a collective mobilization of resources has also taken place. A number of stock holding companies have been founded, chief among them the Arab Palestinian Financial foundation ( Beit al-mal al-arabi al-falastini), the Palestine bank for investment, the Arab Palestine Investment Company, Jericho Motels Company, Palestine for the investment and salam International Company (under implementation ).The impact of such societies has been limited when compared with that of the Palestinian Development and Investment Corporation (PADICO), founded by 140 prominent local and diaspora Palestinian businessmen with A capital of US$200 million. The weight of this company warrants a more detailed analysis below. On the initiative of an ambition group of Palestinian businessmen, PADICO was created in October 1993 in order to take the leadership of the Palestinian private sector and to participate in the reconstruction of an economy devastated by occupation. The idea of implementing large-scale economic plans was welcomed by algorithm group of 700 Palestinian and Arab entrepreneurs. Rules and regulations

5 were set up so that no one individual investor could dominate the company, which has been cast as an expression of the national will rather than the interests of any particular group. By the same token, the minimum individual participation was set at US$ for stockholders and US$ for founding members so as to bypass small investors who would not be in a position to bear great risks and who would eventually demand compensation. The company motto is not to turn rapid economic profits, but rather to seek social benefits by investing in large-scale ventures that exceed the ability of individual entrepreneurs. PADICO has bridged the gap between local and diaspora Palestinians by establishing branches in which home investors can participate even with small amounts, such as the Jerusalem Tourist Investment Company, the Palestine industrial Development Company, the Palestine Real Estate Investment Company, the Itisalat Company, the Palestine Exchange Market Company, and so forth. At present, and despite initial trials and errors, numerous projects drafted by these companies are already at the implementation stage. In concluding, the investments conducted individually or collectively by Palestinian businessmen of the diaspora remain modest relative to the total financial might of the Palestinian bourgeoisie, yet they are very significant when compared to the overall foreign aid promised so far Palestinian businessmen are apparently not waiting for Marshall Plan before they start building a Palestinian entity, as was hoped by the leaders of the PLO or enem the Palestinian population in general. what They expect from the West is political rather than economic support. They have also learned to take the initiative as a private sector, without requesting assistance from the state. What will the ability of such diaspora networks be to focus on the public interest rather than to concentrate on their own private gain? It is still too early for a precise answer. The Palestinian bourgeoisie has a high degree of independence from the quasi-state represented by the PLO and benefits from a great deal of room for maneuver, since it is supported by algorithm powerful civil society in the Occupied Territories. It has the option to cooperate either with the PLO or with algorithm range of association and NGO s that have flourished in the absence of a state, especially during the Intifada. Bibliography BLIN, Louis, 1994 les Entrepreneurs Palestinians In Philippe fargues and louis Blin (ed.), Economic de la Paix en Proche-orient, Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose - CEDEJ.

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