The signing in Paris came as Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Clinton in Washington for key talks on the withering peace process. The development money will go into a new fund, called the Peace Technology Fund, that is the first initiative aimed at linking the Israeli, Palestinian and international business sectors. Peres, whose Peres Center for Peace is supporting the fund, is expected to be its chairman. A company comprised of Israeli and Palestinian fund managers will manage the money. While it is not a requirement that fund recipients be joint ventures between Israelis and Palestinians, the money is aimed at such applicants.
Economic viability is the key to hope.
Netanyahu's government has given its full backing to the fund, said Avi Pazner, the Israeli ambassador to France. Repeated closures of the border that separates Israel from both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, because of violence, have contributed to the Palestinians' economic woes.