SHUNEH (Jordan), June 23: Arab businessmen said on Monday it was premature to promote business dealings with Israeli partners until a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace accord was in place.

Businessmen from across the Arab world said on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan that flourishing trade with Israel, with whom most of their states do not have diplomatic ties, was still some time away.

They themselves were also not willing to engage in open business contacts, even if their governments took early steps, until they see a just Middle East peace on the horizon, they said.

“They (business contacts) have to be part of the settlement of the whole Israeli-Arab-Palestinian issue...which has to be settled,” said Khaled Olayan, whose Saudi conglomerate is one of the leading diversified firms in the region.

“A settlement has to be agreed, and after that...commercial and business relations will start flowing,” he added.

A few executives acknowledged clandestine ventures already existed between Arab and Israeli businesses, but said they were few and far between.

Some Arab businessmen expressed concern a free trade plan for the Middle East being pushed by the United States could be a backdoor effort to get Israel access to Arab markets before a peace deal is reached.

Leading Jordanian investor Sabih al-Masri, who owns a major share in the country’s largest firm ZARA, said some progress in Middle East peace efforts was raising business optimism, but forging ahead with Israeli-Arab joint ventures hinged on tangible progress in peace moves.

“It’s very premature until they (Israel) start moving properly on the roadmap (peace plan),” Masri added.

Issa Abdul Salam Abu Issa, head of Doha-based Salam International Investment Company, agreed that the peace efforts had opened the door for greater Arab trade with the Jewish state, but not many firms were biting yet.

“Business as usual is based on stability,” he said. “The business that is happening is either so tiny or it’s one-shot deals...and not really a stable relationship that can develop and grow.

Israeli business ties with the Arab world were weak at the best of times, and have suffered further since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000. Some of the most successful ventures have been in textiles.

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab states which have peace deals with Israel. A few others forged limited ties amid progress in peace talks in the 1990s, but these contacts were frozen after the intifada began.—Reuters