BICOM

A former head of Israel’s civil administration in the West Bank and Gaza (COGAT) will attend next week’s US-led conference in Bahrain.

Yoav Mordechai, a former Israel Defence Forces Major-General who now heads Novard, a consultancy firm, will attend the event in a private capacity, White House officials have confirmed. Mordechai stepped down as head of COGAT, the Israeli Defence Ministry’s office that liaises directly with the Palestinians, last year.

During his time at COGAT, Mordechai worked on long term economic and infrastructure plans for Gaza. In January 2018, Mordechai presented a $1bn plan to improve the situation in Gaza at an emergency meeting of key donors in Brussels. The plan centred on Israeli assistance for major infrastructure projects, including improving Gaza’s desalination plants, electricity lines, gas pipelines, and upgrading the Erez industrial park on the Israeli border.

In March 2018, Mordechai attended a White House meeting that included representatives from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt and Jordan to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza alongside representatives from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Sweden.

US envoy, Jason Greenblatt, told Israel’s Channel 12 News: “To depoliticise the issue, we have decided to not have the Israeli government there and just have the Israeli private sector there.” He said Israeli officials will be brought in at a later point and will: “Be very helpful in the ideas that are generated and improve them as well.”

Greenblatt dismissed claims that the Bahrain event is focused just on ‘economic peace’. He added that he was not surprised by the Palestinian decision to stay away from the meeting. “They make decisions not helpful not only for peace, but also for their people,” he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday: “Very soon there will be an important conference in Bahrain, that we welcome, at which the US will try to bring about a better future for — and resolve problems of — the region. We are holding open and secret contacts with many leaders of the Arab world and there are contacts between the State of Israel and most of the Arab countries.”