France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK on Saturday spoke about “their grave concern” as violence in the occupied Palestinian territories continues.
The statement condemned violence on both sides and urged the Israeli government to reverse decisions to step up construction of more than 7,000 settlement homes and buildings across the occupied West Bank and not to legalise settlement outposts.
“We strongly condemn recent terrorist attacks that killed Israeli citizens. Terrorism can under no circumstance be justified,” the statement said.
“We also strongly condemn indiscriminate violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians, including destruction of homes and properties.”
The statement said a meeting attended by Israeli and Palestinian officials in Aqaba, Jordan, last month was a “spark of hope”.
The meeting, the first of its kind in years, ended with Israeli and Palestinian officials pledging to de-escalate the surge in violence and was attended by senior US, Jordanian and Egyptian officials.
The participants will meet again this month in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
“We urge all parties to refrain from making this fragile process derail, and call on all parties to make good on the commitments they made in the Aqaba meeting by de-escalating in words and deeds and to restore calm, in order for those efforts to blossom and to make the next meeting in Egypt a success,” the statement said.
At the time, Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, called the meeting “worthless” and condemned the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority for taking part.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has surged over the past year as increased Israeli military raids followed a spate of Palestinian attacks. The UN Security Council on Wednesday called for de-escalation.
Israeli settlers went on a rampage in the Palestinian village of Hawara on Sunday, when one Palestinian was killed and dozens of houses, shops and cars were set on fire. The killing followed a Palestinian gun attack in which two Israeli brothers died.
The US has demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disavow a call on Wednesday by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for Hawara to be “erased”.
The UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk also criticised Mr Smotrich's remarks as “an unfathomable statement of incitement to violence and hostility”.
At least 62 Palestinians, including gunmen and civilians, have been killed since the start of 2023, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Thirteen Israelis and a Ukrainian tourist died in Palestinian attacks in the same period, according to official Israeli figures.
In Saturday's statement, the signatories said they were saddened by all loss of life.
“These acts can lead nowhere, except to more violence. Those responsible must face full accountability and legal prosecution. All unilateral actions that threaten peace and incitement to violence must cease,” they said.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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