REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST PEACE MISSION OF
DR. S. C. YUTER TO 12 COUNTRIES APRIL-JULY 2003*

SUMMARY OF  MIDDLE EAST PEACE PLAN
(See http://www.mefta.org for draft treaties and commentaries)

International free port between Deir el Balah, Gush Katif and North-South road administered by the MFO who leases the land from the Palestinian Authority for 25 years at a reasonable rent. Called Port Mefta (Middle East Free Trade Area), it is a combined Singapore, Riviera and Las Vegas whose port is open to the Palestinians and tourists and business people from all over the world. The business people rent the land from the MFO on which at their sole expense they build hotels, factories and office buildings, and high rise apartments for the exclusively Palestinian labor force. The official currency is the US dollar and the official language is English. The police force comprises the MFO Fiji battalion and police from the MFO countries and Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. The Palestinians have the exclusive gambling concession and a temporary casino promptly starts  in a highly-secure area of Port Mefta using the equipment from the Jericho Oasis Casino. The Sama Dana clan in southern Gaza gets a significant percentage of the profits and jobs of the casino in return for ending their smuggling business and destroying their tunnels, to quiet southern Gaza.  Interior Minister Mohammed Dahlan quiets Northern Gaza  by dismantling the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist structures there in order to start Port Mefta. A power/desalination plant uses cheap offshore Gaza gas to generate cheap electricity and affordable water. A raised highway bridge connects Port Mefta and the West Bank with an extension to Jordan and the road is patrolled solely by the MFO police (there are no Israeli check points).

HIGH POINTS OF MIDDLE EAST PEACE PLAN CONFERENCES

Moscow, June 9, 2003 conference with Mr. Oleg Ozerov, Head Middle East Peace Process Desk.  He recommends that I go to Jordan and give a talk on my Port Mefta plan to the World Economic Forum, and directs me to the Jordan Embassy to arrange it.  Next morning I meet with Jordan Ambassador Abdel Ilah Kurdi who “will do his utmost” to get me on the program, but he is not able to because it was too late to change the program.

Jericho, June 28, 2003 conference with Dr. Saeb Erekat, Palestine Legislative Council Member.  The attached Port Mefta summary was faxed to Erekat before our meeting. I asked him to try to persuade President Arafat to support my Port Mefta plan. He says the only one whom Arafat listens to on economic matters is Muhammed Rashid, in Cairo.  (Rashid  manages Arafat’s and Palestinian overseas investments.)

Jerusalem, July 6, 2003 conference with Haim Regev, First Secretary, Department for M.E. Economic Affairs.  He says Israel has supported similar economic areas in Gaza.  Because it enhances Arafat’s stature, he objects to my effort to ask Muhammed Rashid to persuade Arafat to go to Gaza, declare victory for the intifada (in removing the IDF from most of Gaza) and to demand an international free port open to Palestinians and tourists and business people from all over the world.  He asks what do I expect from Israel.  I say that Israel should as usual oppose internationalization but agree to the MFO to administer such an international free trade area in Gaza.  Sabina Blanc, assistant to economics chief Avidor Yitzhaki in the prime minister’s office, asked me to call her after my Regev meeting.  But she was tied up with the prime minister and I was leaving for Amman.  So Regev agreed to prepare a report of our meeting and send it to Blanc.

 Cairo, July 14, 2003. Mr. Youssef Al-Fareq, Muhammed Rashid’s assistant, asks me by phone to fax the summary of my Port Mefta plan.  He then calls and says that Rashid wants to meet with me, but he is tied up until I have to leave for the airport to fly to Brussels.  He says Rashid wants to meet with me in Europe.  I said that we can meet when he next goes to New York but he should not delay trying to persuade Arafat to demand such a port in Gaza.  If Rashid succeeds with Arafat, then Rashid would secretly meet with his business friend Dov Weisglass  (who dealt with Rashid as the attorney for an Oasis Casino investor and is now the head of the prime minister’s bureau) and work out a declaration of principles of my Port Mefta plan (in my web site) and then take it to Washington to publicly advocate and negotiate it as an American plan and bring the MFO on board.

Generally, every Middle East official whom I talked with supported my Port Mefta plan.

*Capital cities of New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Lithuania, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Belgium and United Kingdom.  S. C. Yuter is president of the Mefta Institute in New York.  His doctorate is in international law.