Here’s the latest from our far-flung correspondent, good friend and intrepid explorer Jonathan Auerbach, who is always ready and eager to do business where most others fear to tread.  Today he is evidently navigating the shoals between Israel and Gaza:

“Entering the occupied territory of Palestine, problematic at best, reached new heights over the weekend for our merry band. One of us, a UK citizen by birth, with one of those funny names including the letter ‘K’ was interviewed for over an hour by soldiers and others convinced he was Iranian. I, always intrepid and straight forward with authority failed the metal detector at the Allenby bridge and was immediately segregated in a holding area for a 30 minute wait until I was pulled into a cubicle by a security person, who pulled the curtain closed and began slipping on rubber gloves; I prepared for the worst. He smiled and simply said, ‘So, where do you have the weapons?’…’You have got to be kidding’, I responded as I explained the location of my titanium prosthesis (Superman for those who play squash with me). An intimate pat down and wanding followed after which he said ‘OK’ and pointed me to the next waiting station without passport, by the way. Around an hour later 3 soldiers, one with my well-worn passport, called me away and interviewed me. ‘Why are you coming to Palestine?’ Answer: ‘I am a broker and I am bringing two clients in to look at their investments and perhaps make more’ Bad answer? Not where I come from.

“More waiting followed and finally we were just told to go, met our driver on the other side and headed for Ramallah (another two Israeli checkpoints along the way). Ok, let’s cut to the chase. Palestine has an electronic book-entry stock exchange (PEX) with global custody and a market cap ~$2.8 billion. Now pay attention…Our local partner, Sahem Trading, believes Palestine will be included in the MSCI Frontier Index by next year. The exchange index (Al Quds) has more less been down for around 5 years and currently at levels achieved in 2004. We would focus on PALTEL (~$950 million marketcap); Holding company PADICO, which owns ~31% of PALTEL (thus valuing its many other holdings at around zero!); Bank of Palestine (BOP) trading slightly over book with a meaningful market share. I won’t be glib and throw Palestine in the ‘Arab Spring’ basket. You should take their recent move to assert their right to statehood seriously, it’s time. Meanwhile you should see a determined nation-in-waiting with an energetic social and commercial fabric. We have thorough research and you can speak with our analysts in Ramallah, speak with Michael Daoud on our Middle East/Africa desk in NY, and place orders with our traders.”