Turkey establishing industrial zone in West Bank

Erdogan: Foreigners love oil, gold, diamonds, and cheap labor of Islamic world. They like the quarrels of the Middle East. Believe me, they don’t like us.

Turkey plans to build a tax-free industrial zone in the West Bank city of Jenin, according to a memorandum of understanding signed on Wednesday.

“This will not only be an organized industrial zone, but a free zone as well, offering unique and massive advantages to all investors, whether they are Turkish, Palestinian or other,” Ahmet Sekeroglu, board chairman of TOBB-BIS, a Turkish industrial parks management company, told the Turkish Anadolu Agency. “Investors will not pay any taxes. Moreover, they will be getting significant support from Turkey, Germany and the US,” said Sekeroglu.

Exported products from the zone will not be subject to taxes or quotas to various countries, including the US, Germany, France, and Saudi Arabia, he said, adding, “the businesses will be insured by the World Bank, too.”

Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Isik and PA Deputy Prime Minister and National Economy Minister, Muhammad Mustafa signed the memorandum. TOBB-BIS is going to construct the industrial zone with support from the German government. It is scheduled to be completed in 2015 and will employ 6,000 workers.

The Turkish minister said that the project will lead to joint cooperation between the two on other industrial zones across the Palestinian territories, according to the report. “Within this framework, we will be sharing our know-how and 50 years of experience through training programs and workshops in Turkey,” said Isik.

Mustafa remarked that a strong economy is necessary if the Palestinians are to become independent.

The industrial zone is likely to be built 30 km. from Haifa’s port and the Jordanian border, according to the Turkish company. 

Separately, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday in Istanbul, “Only we can solve our problems. I speak openly; foreigners love oil, gold, diamonds, and the cheap labor force of the Islamic world. They like the conflicts, fights and quarrels of the Middle East. Believe me, they don’t like us,” AFP reported. “They look like friends, but they want us dead, they like seeing our children die. How long will we stand that fact?” said Erdogan.

“The only condition to overcome the crisis in the Islamic world is unity, solidarity and alliance. Believe me, we can resolve every problem as long as we are united,” he said at a meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. “Islamic countries, which have developed economically, recently, have been experiencing the biggest humanitarian and political crisis in their history simultaneously,” the Turkish president said.

“If we act together, we will end the loneliness of Palestine which has continued for nearly one century... It is possible to end the bloodshed in Iraq and killing of Syrian children if we unite.”

Referring to criticism over his remarks that Muslims discovered America before Columbus, Erdogan said according to the report, “I have been the target of heavy criticism by the Western media. Just because I repeated a fact based on scientific research, I have been targeted by the Western media, as well as the foreigners within who suffer from an ego complex.”

SOURCE: THE JERUSALEM POST