There is no outright answer to this question. This is what our friend Musa told us last week. If you check it on the map, the distance between Ramallah and Beytullahim is around 20 kilometers. However there is no direct answer to the question as to how many hours it takes from Ramallah to Beytullahim. Because both are Palestinian cities under Israel invasion. So, nothing is easy there. Anything can happen at any moment. Have you ever imagined how it could be to live in those territories? This exact commentary is written to help you imagine how it would be to do business in Palestine. It is quite hard to do business in Palestine. It is hard, but not impossible to ensure industrial development in Palestine. But like what I said the day before about Diyarbakir, it is costly to do business in Palestine. So let us see how much it costs.

Let me begin with a note. I have been visiting the region since long ago. And taking departure from what I see, I sincerely believe that Palestine is the most suitable location in the region for industrial development. Israel's security concern is a critical factor that impedes the investment climate in Palestine.  Sure enough, the security concerns of the region take the form of an institutional paranoia. But at the same time, Israel's logistic infrastructure, roads and ports neighboring Palestine enhances the investment climate of the latter way above the Middle East average. Let me repeat: in my consideration, after Turkey Palestine is the primary candidate in the region for industrialization. So it is of great use to design the steps to be taken before the building of the Palestinian state. Nowadays research to identify the 'missing link' such as research on 'how to develop private sector in countries with Muslim majority' grow rapidly. Islamic Development Bank and the Organization of Islamic Conference are for the first time piling upon the correct premises. This is good news. The fundamental incident of the day is the integration of the Muslim world into the global economy. And the main reason underlying the problems we face today is that Muslim countries were articulated into the global economy as the way they were, without going through any transformation. So, let us first note this point.

And then recall today's question: How many hours does it take to ride from Ramallah to Beytullahim? The instant answer would be "it depends".  How? If the car has a suitable license plate, i.e. if it has an Israel plate, you can take the distance in an hour hitting the road from the invaded West Bank through the Israeli highways. If the car has a Palestinian license plate proper for the West Bank, you need minimum three hours to ride from Ramallah to Beytullahim. If there is a minimum, there would also be a maximum. But there, there is no limit at all. If a Palestinian is late to an appointment, he/she says: "Israelis were quite anxious today. They left no stone unturned. The queue was two kilometers long. That is why I am late." And then it is indisputable. Everyone, including Palestinian ministers, recall the control points. They are both huge in number and inconstant. Unpredictability dominates.

Let me clarify some points in the argument above. I heard these from Musa, a Palestinian, only the week before.  He picked me from Jerusalem and drove from Ramallah to Beytullahim. On the way, I noticed that the license plates are different. There, license plates are diversified. Anyone cannot drive to the any direction he desires. There are two types of license plates: Israeli ones and Palestinian ones. Cars with Israeli plate can enter Palestinian territories, but cars with Palestinian license plate can only stay within Palestinian territories. Let's say that you bought two cars to make things easier and save some time. Do you think this would enable mobility? Again, it depends, since this time the identity of the people in the car would be of importance. As the laws stipulate, Israelis cannot go to West Bank. There is a high fine imposed. Israeli Arabs can go and return back since Israeli Arabs are Palestinians living on the other side of the border. They work there and cast vote in Israel elections. And it is this exact citizenship bond that Israeli government has recently been trying to obstruct. Musa says: "We do not know what will happen, but we wait. What else can we do? We are Palestinian at the eyes of Israelis and Israelis at the eye of Palestinians." I will explain sometime what they are actually trying to accomplish. But what can I say now? What they are trying to do nowadays is just like the case in Greek tragedies where lords of Olympus first drove mad the people they wanted to get rid of. It indeed is a meaningless effort. Anyway, cutting the details here, Palestinians in West Bank cannot cross to the other side without specific business people permits. The way to achieve the border cross permits is to apply to the 'Civilian Administration' which is in a way Israel's invasion administration. It is proven by experience that it is not easy to obtain the permit. And who says otherwise talks through the hat.

What was that I said? It is hard to do business in Palestine. And I have not started with the land regime in West Bank and the powers and obligations of authorities, yet. The A, B and C regions there is a whole other story. It is genuinely hard to do business in Palestine. But this also is another story I tend to tell some other time.

Contracts are no more binding under the shade of unpredictability. And this is exactly what underlies Palestine's problems. But is there no solution to this? In my last visit, MIGA and Overseas private Investment Cooperation (OPIC), investment insurance companies of the World Bank and the US, respectively, where more active in the region. This is a good development.

If you are willing to do business, there is always a way.

This commentary was published in Referans daily on 16.10.2010