Palestinian conference to raise $600 million for Gaza

By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian-hosted investment conference plans to raise $600 million for the Gaza Strip but delay projects in the territory while Hamas remains in control, organizers said on Wednesday.

"In Gaza, it is very difficult to do business now," said Hassan Abu Libdeh, chief executive officer of the Palestine Investment Conference opening in the West Bank city of Bethlehem next month.

"We want to show those participating that Gaza has a legacy ... what's happening in Gaza now is of a temporary nature," he said, referring to its takeover by Hamas in fighting against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction in June.

Abu Libdeh told reporters $900 million of the $1.5 billion expected to be raised by the conference would be spent on projects in the occupied West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem.

The other $600 million will be designated for the Gaza Strip where 1.5 million Palestinians live, many of them in poverty.

"We will remind the participants of the Gaza economy and the future of the Gaza economy ... and show some of the projects that will be available once things change," Abu Libdeh said.

Abu Libdeh said many of the planned "mega-projects" the conference hopes to promote would be slated for the Gaza Strip and 100 investors from the territory would attend the gathering.

Under pressure from the United States, which wants to see a deal on Palestinian statehood by year's end, Israel said this week it would ease access to Bethlehem for the conference.

Abu Libdeh said 1,200 foreign and Arab investors would also attend the May 21-23 meeting. Asked if Israel was invited to the conference, he said: "The whole world is invited."

The conference is part of efforts to boost the economy as Palestinians take part in U.S.-backed peace talks with Israel.

A gathering of foreign governments and international institutions in Paris in December pledged $7.7 billion in aid to the Palestinians over the next three years.

Abu Libdeh said attendance at the conference was a clear indication there "are lots of business opportunities in Palestine" despite the lack of visible progress in peace talks.

He said a list of all the conference's planned projects would be released before the end of April.

Organizers have disclosed details of one project -- the construction, at an estimated cost of $350 million, of a town in the Palestinian territories to alleviate a housing shortage.

(Editing by Robert Woodward)