Jerusalem (AP): Benny Gaon, a prominent Israeli industrialist and advocate of economic ties with Israel's Arab neighbors, has died. He was 73.

Gaon died of cancer on Saturday at a Tel Aviv hospital, his office said on Sunday.

Gaon had served in recent years as chairman and president of B. Gaon Holdings Ltd., a firm he founded that promotes investments in Israel, the Middle East and throughout the world.

He was best known in Israel for resuscitating the mammoth Koor Industries Ltd. from near bankruptcy in 1988. In three years Gaon turned the conglomerate around, raising its market value to $2 billion (euro1.29 billion). The concern was then floated on the New York Stock Exchange.

Gaon was known in the region for his optimistic outlook for peace prospects, despite ongoing fighting with the Palestinians. Under Gaon's direction, Koor established a trade office in Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel.

Koor later entered into a series of joint ventures with Jordanian and other Arab partners. He also hosted corporate leaders from Oman and Qatar even though Israel does not have full diplomatic relations with the two Gulf Arab countries.

He in 2005 helped found the Palestine International Business Forum to foster economic development in the West Bank and Gaza Strip ahead of the establishment of a Palestinian state.

That year, soon after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, Gaon wrote in the Globes business newspaper ``Despite all of our cynicism, we should recognize that the concept of `A Different Middle East' is within our grasp.'' In June 2006, the militant Hamas group seized control in Gaza and fighting there has intensified.

In 1996, Gaon headed the first official Israeli business delegation to visit Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, which does not have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.