[yshavurah] this week's snippets
- From: "Cherie Kurland" <kurlandc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "rtst snippets" <rtst@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 21:16:34 -0500
Good News about Israeli companies: From
http://www.jcrcsnj.org/inthenews.asp?intCategoryID=57&intArticleID=615 : ?.
there has been a program going on advocating "buying Israeli"...buy Osem
noodles or snacks, Tnuva cheese, Yarden or Carmel wines, Maccabee beer, Jaffa
Oranges. And? a few more ways to buy Israeli:
2. Use more ? prescription drugs. And when you do, have your doctor check the
box that permits dispensing a generic version. Teva Pharmaceuticals of Petach
Tikva is the world's largest manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals. One out
of every 16 prescriptions filled in the United States is for a Teva product
made in Israel (or outside Israel but by Teva, an Israeli company). And they
earned over $2.7 billion in revenues last year, and their market cap, at $15
billion is at an all time high.
3. ?.Spend too much time talking on the phone and you will touch on the
products of Amdocs, the world's largest provider of complex billing systems
software for communications service providers, market cap $5-1/4 b, also of
Ramat Gan.?.These companies and over 100 other Israeli companies are traded in
the United States on Nasdaq or the NYSE, and in addition to buying Israeli you
can buy their stock.
?.And it isn't just stocks. Of course we all know about Israel Bonds. But if
you are an institutional investor, you can also buy the Government of Israel's
10-year bond?Yield 4-5/8 pct., priced at 153 bps. over the 10-year Treasury,
rated single A?.Or on the corporate level: Israel Electric Corp's 100-year
bond, maturing in 2096....yields over 7%.
?.Or funds. First Israel Fund, traded on the Amex, tracks Israeli companies?.
Or invest in Markstone Capital, ? sharing in the growth of Israel's old economy
companies, its banks, its infrastructure. ?.
From http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Peace/golan_hts.html: (great maps on this
web page!) ?From the western Golan, it is only about 60 miles -- without major
terrain obstacles -- to Haifa and Acre, Israel's industrial heartland. The
Golan -- rising from 400 to 1700 feet in the western section bordering on
pre1967 Israel -- overlooks the Huleh Valley, Israel's richest agricultural
area. In the hands of a friendly neighbor, the escarpment has little military
importance. If controlled by a hostile country, however, the Golan has the
potential to again become a strategic nightmare for Israel.
From 1948-67, when Syria controlled the Golan Heights, it used the area as a
military stronghold from which its troops randomly sniped at Israeli civilians
in the Huleh Valley below, forcing children living on kibbutzim to sleep in
bomb shelters. In addition, many roads in northern Israel could be crossed only
after probing by mine-detection vehicles. In late 1966, a youth was blown to
pieces by a mine while playing football near the Lebanon border. In some cases,
attacks were carried out by Yasir Arafat's Fatah, which Syria allowed to
operate from its territory.
?.Israel repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, protested the Syrian bombardments to
the UN Mixed Armistice Commission, which was charged with policing the
cease-fire. For example, Israel went to the UN in October 1966 to demand a halt
to the Fatah attacks?. Nothing was done to stop Syria's aggression. A mild
Security Council resolution expressing "regret" for such incidents was vetoed
by the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Israel was condemned by the UN when it
retaliated. "As far as the Security Council was officially concerned,"
historian Netanel Lorch wrote, "there was an open season for killing Israelis
on their own territory."
After the Six-Day War began, the Syrian air force attempted to bomb oil
refineries in Haifa. While Israel was fighting in the Sinai and West Bank,
Syrian artillery bombarded Israeli forces in the eastern Galilee, and armored
units fired on villages in the Huleh Valley below the Golan Heights. On June
9, 1967, Israel moved against Syrian forces on the Golan. By late afternoon,
June 10, Israel was in complete control of the plateau. Israel's seizure of the
strategic heights occurred only after 19 years of provocation from Syria, and
after unsuccessful efforts to get the international community to act against
the aggressors.
Six years later, in a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the Syrians overran the
Golan Heights before being repulsed by Israeli counterattacks. After the war,
Syria signed a disengagement agreement that left the Golan in Israel's hands.
On December 14, 1981, the Knesset voted to annex the Golan Heights. The statute
extended Israeli civilian law and administration to the residents of the Golan,
replacing the military authority that had ruled the area since 1967.
Since 1974, Syria has adhered to the cease-fire on the Golan, largely because
of the presence of Israeli troops within artillery range of Damascus. But
during this time, Syria has provided a haven and supported numerous terrorist
groups that attack Israel from Lebanon and other countries. These include the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP); the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of PalestineGeneral Command (PFLPGC). In addition, Syria still
deploys hundreds of thousands of troops-as much as 75 percent of its army-on
the Israeli front near the Heights. As the peace process faltered in 1996-97,
Syria began to renew threats of war with Israel and to make threatening troop
movements. Some Israeli analysts have warned of the possibility of a lightning
strike by Syrian forces aimed at retaking the Golan. The Israeli Defense Forces
have countered the Syrian moves; however, and -- to this point -- preserved the
peace.
Prospects for Peace
For Israel, relinquishing the Golan to a hostile Syria could jeopardize its
early-warning system against surprise attack. Israel has built radars on Mt.
Hermon, the highest point in the region. If Israel withdrew from the Golan and
had to relocate these facilities to the lowlands of the Galilee, they would
lose much of their strategic effectiveness?..
After losing the 1999 election, Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed reports that he
had engaged in secret talks with Syrian President Hafez Assad to withdraw from
the Golan and maintain a strategic early-warning station on Mount Hermon. ?.The
election of Ehud Barak stimulated new movement in the peace process, with
intensive negotiations held in the United States in January 2000 between Barak
and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa. ?the discussions did not bear
fruit. President Assad died in June 2000 and no further talks have been held as
Assad's son and successor, Bashar has moved to consolidate his power.
Rhetorically, Bashar has not indicated any shift in Syria's position on the
Golan?.
From www.jcpa.org/daily for 12.29.03: · Syrian Schools Drenched in
Anti-Semitism - Melissa Radler
Virulent anti-Semitism, calls for jihad, and support for the elimination of
Israel are entrenched in every level of Syria's school system, according to a
study released by B'nai B'rith International of 68 Syrian school textbooks
spanning grades 1-12. Conducted by the New York-based Center for Monitoring the
Impact of Peace, the 30-page study titled "Jihad, Jews and Anti-Semitism in
Syrian School Texts" found that Syrian children are taught to hate Jews and
Israel with such ferocity that genuine reconciliation between the two peoples
appears unlikely in the near future. (Jerusalem Post)
For another view on what?s happening in Iraq, read
http://braden.weblogs.com/2003/12/24
--- Cherie Kurland
--- kurlandc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
--- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.
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