Sa'id, too, was wary. He was betting everything on such a deal. Indeed, he was gambling his very life. The list of people lining up to assassinate him the moment they found out where he was had to be growing by the minute, and the mile. But if the warlords and jihadists were willing to sacrifice their lives in pursuit of war, Sa'id had decided in the last few days that he was willing to sacrifice his life in the pursuit of peace Palestine did not need another Arafat or Ayatollah. She didn't need a Saddam. She needed a Sadat, an Arab leader with the courage of his convictions, a man willing to die so Palestinian children and grandchildren would not have to.
At the same time, Sa'id was also willing to waive all prospects of financial gain from such a joint venture now that he was prime minister. He had already asked the PLC and Galishnikov to research how he could give up his financial stake in PPG and the Medexco joint venture, without giving up the ability to direct the company's involvement in this peace process. If he turned control over to his deputies or board of directors, they could turn on him and refuse to allow PPG to participate in such an IPO or peace deal. But he didn't think they would. They were all longtime friends. They'd been dedicated to Sa'id and his company from its earliest days as a start up in the Gulf.
But Sa'id knew the hearts of men. He knew money and power were temptations few could resist. It warped their loyalties. It tempted their allegiances. He was living in a house of mirrors now. He wasn't sure who he could trust, or how even his closest friends would react to him now that he was suddenly the man at the top of the greasy pole. So even now, Dmitri Galishnikov — an Israeli, a Jew, but perhaps Sa'id's closest friend in a world gone mad — was in his room down the hall trying to come up with a solution.
Any way one sliced it, Sa'id knew he was about to forfeit billions of dollars in personal wealth. It wouldn't be easy for the youngest of six children, born penniless in the West Bank town of Ramallah under Jordanian occupation. But that was a long time ago. Sa'id was now a very wealthy man. Yes, he had always dreamed of becoming a billionaire, and now such a dream was within his grasp. But this was more important. He had no choice. He had to send his fellow Palestinians — and the Arab world — a message: There could not be even the appearance of corruption or impropriety in the new government of the new Palestine. So as soon as possible, he would sign away his fortune. The real question was, would he ever sign a treaty, or would it all be for naught?
THIRTY-NINE
It would take most of the evening to do a proper autopsy.
Several days would be needed to identify the body. And they didn't have several days. A conference call was hastily organized between the president, the director of the FBI, the secretary of Homeland Security, the National Security advisor and senior New York officials, including the mayor, the governor, and both United States senators.
The evidence was sketchy and thus far inconclusive. But the tension in the city and throughout the country was palpable. They couldn't afford to be wrong. A bombing in Times Square would have incalculable consequences within the United States and around the world.
It was an agonizing decision, but at a few minutes before noon, a vote was taken among the participants. The conclusion was unanimous. All New Year's Eve events in New York were canceled. The governor would call out the National Guard to provide additional security in Manhattan and the boroughs. And the president would talk to the mayor of Washington about canceling events in the nation's capital as well.
Bennett now turned to McCoy.
"Erin, why don't you go over some of our projections of what could be possible if an adequate agreement was struck by both sides."
"I'd be happy to, Jon. Thanks. Prime Minister Doron, our assessment is that Gaza, the West Bank, and the Sinai would very likely become the new Saudi Arabias of the Mediterranean. In that sense, we mean their competitive advantage may best be in focusing on the actual drilling, refining, and industrial development of the petroleum.
"There's going to be a tremendous explosion of new jobs, particularly for young men building roads, buildings, industrial facilities, putting in water, sewage, electrical and communications infrastructure, and the like. Large portions of this will be well suited for the Palestinian labor force, not to mention Egyptians and Jordanians, though that would, of course, take a great deal of thinking through to make sure no Palestinians are cheated out of jobs that should more rightfully be theirs, and that there are no security problems related to foreign workers coming into Gaza and or the West Bank. But you can see where we're going with this."
"I can," Doron agreed, not bothered by discussions that were still, obviously, in the conceptual stage. "What do you see for Israel? You've got my wheels churning, I must say. But I'm curious what you're thinking."
"Well, I appreciate that. I think Jon and I would say that Israel seems best positioned to become the new Silicon Valley and Switzerland of the Mediterranean basin. You've got tremendous potential — especially with all this influx of capital — to continue emerging as one of the world's great high-tech, banking, financial services and health-care capitals. You're already operating well ahead of other countries in the region, more on par with Europe and the United States, and this could very well put your high-tech industries into the stratosphere.
"We haven't got specific numbers on it, but I think if you input all these numbers into an economic model for Israel, you'd see inflows of capital into your country that had nothing directly to do with oil or gas or anything petroleum related, per se, but began flowing simply because people began to believe that peace really was at hand and that Israel was ready for exponential growth. It's not been surprising for you guys to grow six to eight percent a year in real terms. I think it's fair to say that under many of these scenarios, you guys would be growing in double digits for much of the next decade, if not longer."
The room was silent for a few long minutes. Bennett and McCoy glanced at each other, but said nothing. They glanced at Sa'id. The man was still stone-faced and motionless. Doron, meanwhile, leafed through his briefing book, nodding and occasionally underlining something that caught his eye.
"I see you've got a section on Jordan, here," he finally said. "Can you give me the executive summary?"
"Jon?" McCoy asked.
"Hey, go right ahead," Bennett responded. "You're doing great."
McCoy appreciated that more than Bennett knew, but she tried not to tip her hand. Bennett had been doing most of the talking, and would be for the next few days. But she'd done most of the legwcrk to get to this point, and it was nice to have an opportunity — however brief — to make her case.
"Well, fair enough. The bottom line is that Jordan is in an incredible position to benefit from the president's oil-for-peace proposal. The Hash-emite Kingdom, of course, already has a peace treaty with Israel. It's got a large labor pool that could be hired for all kinds of infrastructure projects. Moreover, with the right strategic plan, it could very well become the Palm Springs or Phoenix of the region, focusing on tourism, resorts, luxury spas, that kind of thing."
Doron looked across the table at Sa'id.
"And golf?"
Sa'id was surprised by the question.
"Perhaps — yes, maybe even golf."
"The king would like that, wouldn't he?"
"Yes, I suspect he would." Sa'id laughed.
McCoy then directed the two men to page 114 of their briefing books, while she put a new Power Point slide up on the wall. She and Bennett and their team had crunched more numbers, and these were astounding.
McCoy explained that if all things went as well as expected, every Israeli and Palestinian could, two or three years from that moment, be holding Medexco stock worth somewhere between a half a million and a million dollars per family. If the region remained peaceful and people held on to their stocks after the holding period, they could very well be sitting on several multiples of that.