Opposition in the US Congress to the entry to the US of Dubai port services company Dubai Ports World has increased following the disclosure that the company’s parent, a holding company controlled by the Emir of Dubai, actively supports the Arab trade boycott against Israel.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that the dispute may also affect the free trade negotiations between the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The revelations regarding the boycott are likely to pose a substantial obstacle to the efforts of the Bush administration to enable Dubai Ports World to begin management of ports in the US, since US legislation explicitly prohibits American companies from cooperating with the boycott. Companies faced with such situations are required to report to the authorities any attempt to enforce the boycott against Israel by Arab states.
Commenting on the latest developments, Alex Cruz, spokesman for congresswoman Ileana Ross-Lehtinen (Rep. Florida), Chair of the Congressional Middle East sub committee for foreign relations, said, “We are now in the process of drafting letters to the US Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary for Commerce and will be sending a separate letter to Bill Thomas, Chair of the Ways and Means Committee (which also oversees international trade relations. R.D.). We have called for the immediate halt to all activities related to free trade negotiations between the US and the United Arab Emirates, until such time as the Emirates disassociate themselves from all aspects of the Arab League boycott against Israel, and until such time as the intentions of Dubai Ports regarding the operation of US ports has been investigated in full.”
The revelations regarding the connection between Dubai Ports’ parent company and the Arab boycott, which was first revealed in the Jerusalem Post, supplied legislators with new and powerful ammunition when they questioned Ted Bilkey an American citizen and Dubai Ports Authority chief operating officer, during a senate hearing on the issue. The legislators, principally democrats, stressed that Washington should not be handing out prizes to companies who discriminate against allies of the US.
Responding to questions by the Senator Barbara Boxer, the Democrat representative for California, Bilkey acknowledged that the Dubai government complied with the boycott against Israel, and that ports in the Gulf states managed by the company also boycotted Israeli goods. But in response to a question from another Democrat Senator, Bill Nelson, Bilkey stated that he had no knowledge regarding the extent of the involvement of Dubai Ports’ parent company in barring Israeli goods from the Gulf states.
Legislators from both parties and the Senate and House of Representatives on Capitol Hill have, for the present, maintained their pressure on US President George W. Bush to cancel the agreement, amid fears that the entry of the Dubai company into US ports, could create an acute security issue. The administration has agreed to review legislators security concerns within 45 days, although Bush himself has made it clear that he intends to the Dubai Ports World deal the green light, once the new security review has been completed.
In a parallel move, the Anti Defamation League has launched a public campaign to block the entry by Dubai Ports World to US ports. In a letter to US Secretary of the Treasury John Snow, Anti Defamation League national director Abraham H. Foxman said that security considerations notwithstanding, “If Dubai continues to conduct anti Israel activities, this could be the basis for revoking the agreement.”
But several Jewish activists, speaking privately, said that the issue should remain outside the remit of US Jewish organizations, to avoid giving rise to claims that this was a national issue, rather than one related to ethnic issues.
The six ports scheduled for transfer to the management of the Dubai Ports World, among them the ports of New York and Miami have until now been run by the London-based port management company Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation. Peninsular and Oriental Steam was recently acquired, along with all its assets including the US ports under its management, by Dubai Ports in a deal worth $6.8 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 1, 2006