Arab-Unity Moderated by Mohamed Dobashi

Jews-Unity Moderated by Mohamed Dobashi

Buffet reiterates faith in Iscar despite security situation

By Ora Coren

Eitan Wertheimer, chairman of Iscar, spoke this weekend with Warren Buffett, who invested NIS 4 billion in his purchase of 80 percent of the company before the outbreak of the war in the north. After the conversation, Wertheimer told his confidants that Buffett had said that even if the deal needed to be finished after the outbreak of the war, he would not have withdrawn from it. According to sources close to Wertheimer, Buffett said that "the war would not have changed my willingness to invest in Iscar; take care of the situation and get sorted out." The Iscar factory in the Tefen industrial park was closed for three days because of the war, but immediately afterwards returned to full operation. Other Wertheimer plants, including Blades Technolgies in Nahariya and Techjet, are operating partially.

Advertisement At the same time, Hezi Tzaig, Director of the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry Investment Center, asked the Finance Ministry for a NIS 300 million budget increase to allow the approval of investment plans in the Galilee. About NIS 150 million would be a new allocation, while a further NIS 150 million would be transferred from the employment budget. The treasury has not yet given an answer to his request. The trade ministry estimates that after the extra budget is granted it will be able to approve the relatively large investment requests in the Galilee, such as that of Iscar, Blades Technologies and Elite. In any case, there will not be enough money to approve all of the requests, but efforts will be made to distribute the approvals to most of the companies, and in some cases to give partial approvals. This week, the administration of the ministry's investment center discussed investment plans of factories in the north and around the Gaza Strip. The administration approved 25 plans totalling NIS 243 million. Tzaig said that the approvals for front-line companies were given as part of the concept that plants situated in conflict zones need to be aided. The administration approved a NIS 45 million expansion of the Tosaf Compounds plant in Carmiel. Tosaf manufactures raw materials for the plastics industry. Also, NIS 29 million was approved for Carmel Olefins in Haifa, NIS 28.5 million for Mor Plastic Industries in Sderot and NIS 17 million for Gevaram Qual

Arab-Unity Moderated by Mohamed Dobashi: Arab Unity Dead or Alive

Arab-Unity Moderated by Mohamed Dobashi: Arab Unity Dead or Alive

Buffet reiterates faith in Iscar despite security situation

By Ora Coren

Eitan Wertheimer, chairman of Iscar, spoke this weekend with Warren Buffett, who invested NIS 4 billion in his purchase of 80 percent of the company before the outbreak of the war in the north. After the conversation, Wertheimer told his confidants that Buffett had said that even if the deal needed to be finished after the outbreak of the war, he would not have withdrawn from it. According to sources close to Wertheimer, Buffett said that "the war would not have changed my willingness to invest in Iscar; take care of the situation and get sorted out." The Iscar factory in the Tefen industrial park was closed for three days because of the war, but immediately afterwards returned to full operation. Other Wertheimer plants, including Blades Technolgies in Nahariya and Techjet, are operating partially.

Advertisement At the same time, Hezi Tzaig, Director of the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry Investment Center, asked the Finance Ministry for a NIS 300 million budget increase to allow the approval of investment plans in the Galilee. About NIS 150 million would be a new allocation, while a further NIS 150 million would be transferred from the employment budget. The treasury has not yet given an answer to his request. The trade ministry estimates that after the extra budget is granted it will be able to approve the relatively large investment requests in the Galilee, such as that of Iscar, Blades Technologies and Elite. In any case, there will not be enough money to approve all of the requests, but efforts will be made to distribute the approvals to most of the companies, and in some cases to give partial approvals. This week, the administration of the ministry's investment center discussed investment plans of factories in the north and around the Gaza Strip. The administration approved 25 plans totalling NIS 243 million. Tzaig said that the approvals for front-line companies were given as part of the concept that plants situated in conflict zones need to be aided. The administration approved a NIS 45 million expansion of the Tosaf Compounds plant in Carmiel. Tosaf manufactures raw materials for the plastics industry. Also, NIS 29 million was approved for Carmel Olefins in Haifa, NIS 28.5 million for Mor Plastic Industries in Sderot and NIS 17 million for Gevaram Qual

Arab-Unity

Arab-Unity
New Arab unity may arise from the carnage at Qana
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August 1, 2006
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What next? Hezbollah is firm, Israel is bloodied and the US is irrelevant, writes Rami Khouri.
THE Israeli attack that killed scores of elderly people and handicapped children in the southern Lebanese town of Qana early on Sunday has triggered reactions that collectively may prove to be a turning point in the fighting, and perhaps even in the 58-year-old Arab-Israeli conflict.
Television images throughout the world on Sunday focused on two parallel scenes: the removal of smashed bodies in Qana, most of them children, and an angry demonstration in front of the UN building in central Beirut, where enraged young Lebanese entered the facility and trashed parts of it.
Those sentiments of rage by Lebanese citizens are the core of wider political feelings that may soon be translated into novel, and potentially historic, diplomatic action. This was reflected most dramatically on Sunday morning when Lebanon's Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, and the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, told a news conference that, in view of the massacre at Qana, the Lebanese Government had nothing to discuss except an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
Berri, the highest Shiite figure in the Government and a key link with Hezbollah, said that all Shiites and Lebanese stood firmly with the Government position. The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, then announced that she was postponing her scheduled visit to Beirut to discuss how to end this crisis.
The unprecedented nature of these moves comprises the convergence of five forces in the Arab world that have never come together as they do this week:
■Impassioned public opinion.
■Sustained armed resistance by non-state actors.
■Firm government positions that align with both of these elements.
■Non-stop mass media dissemination.
■A sense of Israel's military vulnerability.

Arab Unity Dead or Alive

Nasser and Arab Unity

Most of the people who live in the Middle East and North Africa are Arabs, but Arabs have only recently controlled the region. Ottoman Turks controlled most of the territory until World War I. The British and French replaced them in power. Many Arabs have dreamed of combining their individual countries into one pan-Arabic nation.

Gamal Abdel Nasser was a leader in uniting Arab-speaking people. As a youth, he became a revolutionary opposed to British rule in Egypt. In 1952, Nasser led a military overthrow of King Farouk, and two years later assumed the title of president.

For thousands of years Egyptians dreamed of building a dam to stop the annual flooding of the Nile River. Nasser first asked the Americans and the British to help build the dam. When both nations refused, Nasser seized the Suez Canal. Years earlier an Egyptian king sold the canal to the British. Nasser believed that it was the right of the Egyptian people to determine what happened on their land, so he nationalized, or took control of the canal. Forces from Britain, France, and neighboring Israel attacked Egypt. Nasser turned to the Soviet Union (now known as Russia) for help when his Arab neighbors did not join the fight.

From 1945 to 1990, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a battle to influence the rest of the world. The two nations never fought one another, but the tensions on both sides were known as “the Cold War.” Both the Americans and the Soviets sought to influence the Arab world. The Soviets threatened to use nuclear weapons if the Suez crises did not end. The American government, fearing the fight could bring what might become a third and final world war, encouraged both sides to agree to a peace treaty that allowed Egypt to keep the Suez Canal.

Nasser merged his nation with Syria in 1958 to form “the United Arab Republic.” Iraq also considered joining the union. The Syrians felt the Egyptians did not treat them as equals. After a 1961 drought in Syria, army officers seized control of the nation and declared independence from Egypt. Nassar kept the name United Arab Republic as a symbol for his hope of Arab unity. After Nasser’s death, the nation was renamed the Arab Republic of Egypt. Many Arab leaders continue to discuss forming a single nation. An Arab nation might stretch from Morocco to Iraq, but it is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.

Posted by Mohamed Dobashi