TOKYO - Japan on Wednesday kicked off a two-day conference on easing tension between Israel and Palestinians, based on economic cooperation, with participants hoping prosperity may help bring peace where other means have failed.

Japan has long felt it has a special role to play in the Middle East because it lacks much of the political baggage of the United States, allowing for warmer ties with Arab nations and enabling it to act as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.

During the conference, Israeli, Palestinian, and Japanese officials agreed to a plan to build an agroindustrial park in the West Bank, part of efforts backed by Japan to promote economic cooperation and development in the Middle East.

	Advertisement

The parties agreed that Japan will dispatch a research team later this month to select possible sites for the park, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said at the end of a two-day conference in Tokyo attended by senior Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian officials.

"Dialogue between Israel and Palestine is now more important than ever," said Tatsuo Arima, Japan's special envoy to the Middle East and moderator of the talks, which include officials from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Japan.

Under the plan, the agroindustrial park will be built near the town of Jericho and process agricultural products from the Palestinian territories like oranges and tomatoes, according to a Foreign Ministry official who briefed
reporters later Wednesday on customary condition of anonymity.

The finished products will be shipped to Jordan, while Israel will ensure the park's security and share technical expertise, the official said. The park will employ Palestinian workers from Jericho, he said.

Much of the funding for the park would come from Japanese development assistance. The Foreign Ministry declined to give a timeframe for the project or say how much it would cost, saying Japan would wait for findings of the
research team before deciding on specifics. Nonetheless, Japan has said it will give $100 million to fund the project.

"Japan does not believe that realizing this vision alone will bring peace to the Middle East ... but we are prepared to work with other countries to achieve that peace," Aso told the visiting officials at a reception late Wednesday.

"We are hosting these talks in the hope it will help them deepen mutual trust and foster dialogue," Arima added.

Tokyo is the second-largest aid donor to the Palestinian territories on a country basis after the United States.

"I believe we've committed a mistake by dwelling so much on the military side and the political side, and almost nothing on the economic side," said Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who is attending the talks.

"I think the locomotive of change in our time is economic and not political or strategic," he said.

A separate cabinet-level meeting of all four parties will be hosted Wednesday night by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso to formally launch the Koizumi proposal.

Aso said last month that Japan has to maintain a tangible presence in the Middle East as rising energy demand in China and India will make the oil market more of a seller's market.

Media reports say Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may visit the region in late April or early May. Officials have said nothing is decided, but Aso said mutual visits need to increase.

While Japan has worked as a regional mediator in the past, analysts said the renewed push is aimed partly at improving its image, which was tarnished in the eyes of some Arab nations by Tokyo's dispatch of troops to Iraq on a reconstruction mission in support of the United States.

"Political instability in the area is much higher than before, so Japan has to make extra efforts now, as with the economic projects," said Fumio Nishimura, a private diplomatic commentator.

"If the region isn't stable, Japan can't get its oil."