RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES// Israel said it will cut its funding to the United Nations in retaliation for Unesco designating Hebron an endangered world heritage site.
The UN's cultural arm announced the decision at a Unesco meeting in Warsaw on Friday, to the fury of the Israelis. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it "another delusional decision by Unesco" and said israel would slash $1 million off its UN contribution. it will be the fourth time Israel has cut funding to the UN in the past year, shrinking its contribution from $11 million to $2.7 million.
In May, Mr Netanyahu also slammed a Unesco vote on Jerusalem as "absurd."
The Israeli foreign ministry labelled Unesco's decision "a moral blot" on the UN. it was also denounced by the US ambassadot to the UN, Nikki Haley.
The vote on Hebron was passed by 12 vote to three, with six abstentions. The Unesco committee usually votes via a show of hands but this time, Croatia, Jamaica and Poland requested a secret ballot, prompting a heated discussion which required the chairman to call in security.
There was another moment of intrigue when Israel's ambassador to Unesco, Carmel Shama Hacohen,appeared to almost mock the proceedings. He took the floor after the vote but kept being interrupted by his cell phone.He said it was his plumber who was fixing a problem in his bathroom , adding "and it's much more important than the decision you just adopted."
By listing sites on its World Heritage in Danger list, Unesco seeks to mobilise the international community to protect them. It also allows for the allocation of immediate World Heritage Fund assistance to the property.
Palestinians hailed the decision as recognition of their historical rights.
"This vote is a success for the diplomatic battle fought by Palestine on all fronts, in the face of Israeli and American pressure on member states," the Palestinian foreign ministry said.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, said it was "an affirmation of our full rights in Hebron and all Palestinian land. Despite a frantic Israeli campaign spreading lies and distorting the facts about the Palestinian rights, the world has recognised our right to register Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque under Palestinian sovereignty."
Hebron claims to be one of the oldest cities in the world. It contains the Ibrahimi Mosque, known to the Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs,as the burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.The site is holy to both faiths. But it has also long been a flashpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A few hundred Israelis live under heavy military protection in the midst of more than 200,000 Palestinians.
In 1994, Israeli-American Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims praying at the site, killing 29, before being beaten to death by survivors.
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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