A MILLIONAIRE businessman from the region has been appointed to a key post that will thrust him into attempts to secure a Middle East peace deal.

David Abrahams – the property developer behind plans for the £1bn Durham Green Business Park – is the new vice-president of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), an international security think tank.

The appointment has been seen as an attempt to boost the institute’s work in Israel and Palestine, because of Mr Abrahams’ long-standing interests in the region.

He recently founded a chair at Warwick University in Middle East studies.

His website carries the slogan: Jobs for the North East and Peace in the Middle East.

It was reported that Mr Abrahams was already planning a major conference of Arab foreign ministers in London this summer to discuss the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Tyneside-based Jewish businessman described that suggestion as “a little bit premature”, but, asked if he would be a Middle East peace broker, he replied: “Any job is what you make of it.”

He added: “I have a lot of contacts in the Middle East and I spend a lot of time there.

“I want to see what I can do to justify my existence, taking risks in this vital task. There is a lot of work that needs to be done.”

Mr Abrahams was catapulted into the public eye in November 2007, when it was revealed he made donations of more than £650,000 to the Labour Party, using other people’s names.

The affair plunged Gordon Brown’s government into crisis and triggered the resignation of the party’s general secretary, Peter Watt.

More recently, he has been pressing ahead with plans for the business park, which could provide more than 5,000 jobs on 570 acres near Bowburn, County Durham. It received planning permission last May.

Mr Abrahams’ fellow RUSI vice-presidents include Sir Paul Lever, former UK ambassador to Germany, Sir David Omand, former permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, and the Duke of Westminster.

A spokesman from RUSI told the Jewish Chronicle: “David brings a great wealth of experience and expertise in the Middle East region. We are very happy to have someone of this calibre on board.”

Asked by The Northern Echo if he still donated to Labour, Mr Abrahams replied: “I will always support the party, but it’s rather vulgar to talk about money.”