New Peres Peace Center to examine economic issues

The Peres Peace Center is an apolitical organization dedicated to expanding and advancing peace in the region, focusing on economic, social, educational and technological cooperation.

"Peace is crucial and we must not give in to the terrorists who are trying to eliminate it," Peres stated. "I would never let Hamas, [the Islamic] Jihad or Hezbollah determine whether the peace process continues or not. The point is to overcome them, not put the fate of peace into their hands.

"The advantage [of the Peres center] is its focus on business and economic projects which can promote peace through nongovernment bodies. After all, the main fruits of peace are in the economic arena," he said.

Former peace negotiator Uri Savir, who is to serve as the center's director, said it will aim at fostering concrete projects rather than abstract research. "We are believers in action and making the difference on the ground," said Savir.

The Peres center will work with governments, nongovernmental organizations and private and public bodies such as the World Bank, the World Economic Forum (Davos), the Palestinian Institute for Regional Research, Harvard University, Tel Aviv University, the Ford Foundation and the governments of France, Germany, Norway and the Palestinian Authority.

Among the joint Israeli-Palestinian projects the center will promote are the industrial park at Carni, the Tri-Cities Peace Project for cooperation among Israeli, Palestinian and European cities and a regional project for the development of durum wheat.

Peres also said Monday that he has no intention of forming a political movement, and that if he heads a peace movement, he will not turn it into a party and run for the Knesset.

He added that he is examining a proposal to head a peace movement and had not heard any objection from Labor Party leader Ehud Barak about it.

Commenting on the possibility of a national unity government, Peres said he was encouraged by Barak's change of attitude and readiness to consider it if asked to do so by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Peres denied any agreement with Barak about receiving a senior portfolio in a unity government, saying, "This is not a personal issue. I hope the central personality in such a government would be the peace."

The Peres center's international board of governors comprises distinguished statesmen, literary and educational authorities and leading economic figures, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Javier Solana, Amos Oz, Ronni Milo, Henry Kissinger, Lee Iacocca, Mikhail Gorbachev, Felipe Gonzales, Umberto Eco, Jacques Delor, Lionel Jospin, Baron Eric de Rothschild, Simone Weil, former President Jimmy Carter, Warren Christopher, Andre Azulay, Charles Bronfman, F.W. de Klerk and Mustafa Khalil.

Netanyahu and other Cabinet ministers are to attend the Peres center's inauguration on Oct. 20, as will some 50 foreign members of the board of governors.