Palestinian investment conference to be open today

US officials voiced optimism on Tuesday for what is being billed as a major Palestinian investment conference which is being backed by Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair and deep-pocketed investors.

Palestinian executives and investors from Britain, Greece, Jordan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are due to attend the conference, which opens on Wednesday in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Deputy US Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt, who is leading a US delegation to the three-day event, said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is also expected at the international business gathering.

"The investment conference is intended to spur investor interest in the Palestinian territories by showcasing business opportunities and projects ready to be launched," Kimmitt told reporters.

He said the administration of President George W. Bush hopes the Palestine Investment Conference will bolster a push to establish a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel.

Asked how commerce in the West Bank could prosper amid hundreds of Israeli military checkpoints which also restrict the movement of people around the Palestinian territory, Kimmitt said Washington recognizes Israel's security concerns.

"There have been some improvements in recent weeks, but more certainly is needed to tap the potential of the Palestinian economy," he said.

One conference session will debate how the Gaza Strip could benefit from investment. The Palestinian Authority is backing the gathering, but representatives of the Hamas group, who control Gaza, will not be present.

Israel brands Hamas as a terrorist organization and says its restrictions on movement into and around the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively are needed to protect Israelis.

The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees has said that Israel's actions have hampered vital aid being delivered to the 1.5 million impoverished Palestinians who live in Gaza.

The business gathering, which its organizers are touting as the first of its kind, will take place after foreign states pledged 7.4 billion dollars to the Palestinians at a Paris summit in December of last year.

"The time has come to invest in Palestine. We are throwing a party and the whole world is invited," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in a video posted on YouTube.

Palestinian supporters say they are hoping to seal deals, especially housing projects, that could total 1.9 billion dollars.

"There has been an incredible shortage of housing. Now we have around 30,000 units that are being considered to be built," said Ziad Asali, the president of the American Task Force on Palestine.

Asali said Israel's government was cooperating in enabling foreign investors to attend the conference at the Intercontinental Jacir Palace hotel.

Officials said the gathering will also highlight other business opportunities. A US government agency will award a 480,000 dollar grant at the conference to boost wireless Internet access across the West Bank.

Robert Mosbacher, the chief executive of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and John Sullivan, the deputy secretary of the Commerce Department, are part of the US delegation.

Executives from Intel, the world's biggest computer chip maker, Cisco and Merrill Lynch are also expected to attend.

Blair, a former British prime minister and the envoy of the Middle East Quartet which groups the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union, is due to address the opening session of the conference.