JERUSALEM // Israel insisted Thursday it would keep building homes in disputed east Jerusalem, threatening to hold up a US-proposed settlement construction moratorium designed to renew deadlocked Mideast peacemaking.
The contours of the moratorium deal, as presented by Israeli officials after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from the U.S. last week, had appeared to be clearly agreed upon.
Washington, they said, had agreed to exclude the eastern sector of the holy city from the 90-day moratorium and there would be no further demands for construction curbs in the West Bank when the latest moratorium expired.
On Thursday, however, a day after Netanyahu said a deal was imminent, the U.S. still had not sent a promised letter detailing the understandings on the proposed moratorium.
Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev would not discuss the details of the ongoing contacts between the two governments. But he said any future moratorium would not apply to Jerusalem, whose eastern sector was annexed by Israel in 1967 in a move not recognized by the international community.
He noted that an earlier settlement slowdown, whose expiration in September led to the current impasse in peace efforts, did not include Jerusalem.
"Israel makes a clear distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem," Regev said. "Jerusalem is our capital and will remain as such. The previous moratorium did not apply to Jerusalem ... If there is a future moratorium, it will similarly not apply to Jerusalem."
Palestinians want construction to halt in both areas, which they claim for their future state along with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. They have not said whether the partial freeze being brokered by the U.S. will be enough to draw them back to the negotiating table.
The negotiations broke down in late September - just three weeks after they began at the White House - following the expiry of a 10-month moratorium on new West Bank construction.
The U.S. hopes a renewed moratorium would allow Israel and the Palestinians to make significant progress toward working out a deal on their future borders. With borders determined, Israel could resume building on any territories it would expect to keep under a final peace deal.
To entice the Israelis to sign on to the deal, the U.S. has proposed a package of incentives including a gift of 20 next-generation stealth fighter planes and U.S. pledges to veto anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations, Israeli officials have said.
But Netanyahu has been having trouble winning support from the plan even from his coalition allies. The ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which can make or break the deal, says it will let it go through only if Israel receives written assurances from the U.S. that the building restrictions exclude Jerusalem.
In a sign of the backroom dealings in Israel around the deal, an official close to Shas said the party had received assurances that if it abstains in the vote, Defense Minister Ehud Barak would authorize the construction of hundreds of apartments in the West Bank immediately after the moratorium expires.
Some of the construction would take place in specifically ultra-Orthodox communities and other projects would be built in a settlement just outside Jerusalem, giving Shas something to take back to constituents who might otherwise oppose another moratorium.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been officially announced. The Defense Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Shas is critical to any moratorium deal because the inner Cabinet that will vote on it is almost evenly split, and Shas holds the two swing votes.
The party's spiritual leader, a 90-year-old rabbi known for his harsh comments about Arabs, will make the final determination on how to vote.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi