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Warnings of economic boycott rile Israeli Minister

20 January 2014 23:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Economy Minister Naftali Bennett dismissed on Monday a growing chorus of alarm that Israeli business will face international isolation if peace talks with the Palestinians fail, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Indicating rising friction within the government, Bennett urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ignore the warnings, saying an independent Palestine would become a haven for militants and represent a serious threat to Israeli stability.

"A Palestinian state would crush Israel's economy," Bennett told supporters of his right-wing nationalist 'Jewish Home' party that has threatened to quit Netanyahu's coalition if peace negotiations progress.

Bennett's dire vision came on the day a group of prominent Israeli and Palestinian corporate leaders said they would fly to the Davos World Economic Forum this week to throw their weight behind U.S. efforts to secure an unlikely peace accord.

Itamar Rabinovich, a former ambassador to Washington and a member of the Israeli-Palestinian 'Breaking the Impasse' group, said the business community recognized the potential rewards to be reaped if the talks succeed, and the risks posed by failure.

"A deal would mean Israel could invest less in defense and would open up huge economic opportunities with the Arab world," he told Reuters. "But an economic boycott and loss of international legitimacy is undoubtedly a major threat."

Direct peace talks aimed at ending the decades-old Middle East conflict resumed last July, and have reached a critical moment, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry trying to draw up a framework deal meant to open the way to a final accord.

Kerry, who has visited the region 11 times in less than a year in his drive to bridge the divisions, is due to meet Netanyahu in Davos later this week.