Association of Contractors and Builders president Aharon Cohen: Palestinians have always been an integral part of Israel’s construction industry.
Association of Contractors and Builders in Israel president Aharon Cohen will attend the Investors Conference to be held in London on December 13, in order to promote Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on infrastructure projects. The Investors Conference aims at establishing cooperation and joint ventures between the Israeli and Palestinian private sectors.
Cohen said Quartet Special Envoy James Wolfenson, the former president of the World Bank, had a three-year $9 billion international budget, some of which was slated for investment in Palestinian Authority (PA) infrastructure projects and Palestinian projects within Israel, such as access roads between the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Cohen said there was no point in foreign companies participating in these projects when Israeli companies had all necessary know-how. He said nothing prevented Palestinians from using Israeli know-how for designing projects in PA territory.
Cohen added that it was natural for Israelis and Palestinians to cooperate in construction. He said Palestinians workers had always been an integral part of Israel’s construction industry. “The government has decided to halt the employment of Palestinian workers in the construction industry by the end of 2008. I intend to raise this subject at the Investors Conference, and to create a joint Israeli-Palestinian front against this decision.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on December 11, 2005