articles for tomorrow
Christian Paar
Hi guys!
I have 3 really nice articles, but one of them is in german so you get only 2 for now… the first is an opinion and is not mine or anything like that, but I think it will offer us some nice points of discussion.
The second is just a very good project and has some nice numbers in it too.
Anyway see you tomorrow and sleep well or have a good morning.
Sincerely,
Chris
Beware ‘economic peace’
Past Palestinian uprisings followed diplomatic dead-end, economic success
Sever Plocker
The statistics are clear and frightening: Every time the standard of living in the Palestinian parts of the West Bank reaches a new zenith, an Intifada breaks out and turns back the wheel. This was the case in 1987, this is what happened in 2000, and this may be happen now.
The similarities are worrisome. Again, just like 22 years ago and nine years ago, the Palestinian economy is completing a period of impressive growth. Again, just like on the eve of the two previous Intifadas, the media provide extensive and gleeful coverage of the economic miracle in Nablus, Ramallah, and Jericho.
New stores are opening up, the coffee shops are packed, and unemployment is down. And again, Israel’s public opinion tends to believe that the Palestinian problem has been resolved given the current reality. What else can the Palestinians aspire for when they have advanced autonomy and when their standard of living skyrockets?
As a reminder, at the end of a hot August in 2000, tens of thousands of Israelis hit furniture stores at the outskirts of Qalqiliya. Meanwhile, other Israelis waited in long lines for direct buses from southern Tel Aviv to the casino in Jericho. According to data provided by the International Monetary Fund, the per capita income in Palestinian Authority areas during the years 1995-2000 rose by 8-10% per year.
Yet despite this amazing economic peace, one marginal and provocative spark was enough to stimulate the Intifada and the wave of terror, which brought the Palestinian standard of leaving back a generation and pulverized the Israeli economy. The casino in Jericho is still there, deserted, as a living testament to the failure of the previous attempt to bring economic normalization ahead of a diplomatic agreement.
The capitalistic belief in the ability of (partial) economic prosperity to subdue national aspirations, as unclear and undefined as those may be, should have been shattered into pieces nine years ago. Yet as it turns out, this did not happen.
Shopping versus protesting
Netanyahu, Lieberman, and Barak today share the view that the Palestinians already have an extensive political autonomy, and also security autonomy. This enables them to realize, in practice, most of their national aspirations and desire for sovereignty. This is an “almost state” that includes a legislature, courts, police, army, democratic elections, and civilian institutions.
Moreover, the Palestinian government can be granted representation in international economic institutions if it really wants this. Israel will not oppose it, just as it won’t oppose other hallmarks of independence and sovereignty.
Based on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s view, which wholly contradicts the views of his predecessors Sharon and Olmert, negotiations for a final-status agreement are only being maintained because of diplomatic persistence. Meanwhile, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been resolved and settled for the most part, and the issues still pending can certainly wait for future generations. Now, Israel must help the Palestinians in developing a free market economy and encouraging foreign investment. This is our mission in the region and there is no other one. The economic normalization, known as “economic peace,” will provide a response to anything.
This may be so, but it more like won’t. The economic normalization threatens the revolutionary and radical elements within Palestinian society, and they swore not to allow this normalization to take root. It’s perceived by them as indirect reconciliation with the occupation. A national liberation movement, and certainly a national-religious one, withers away when the masses go out to shop rather than to demonstrate.
The reinforcement of a Palestinian middle class, which may fall in love with a routine life, reject the ongoing struggle, and enjoy its proximity to the large Israeli market is anathema in the view of the militant leadership, and not only there. The tensions between economic and personal progress and a diplomatic and national dead-end tear Palestinian society apart.
The next Intifada, should it break out, may focus on Temple Mount, yet its logic will not really be related to religious feelings. Just like in previous times, its origin will be the volatile cocktail of a diplomatic dead-end coupled with an economic tie. As it turns out, the two don’t go well together.
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By Israel Etzion
Israel's prowess as the "startup nation" is in no small part due to a relatively small, but well-trained, workforce of engineers and technicians. However, good intentions and a development plan will get a small company only so far if it does not have sufficient personnel to design and produce the product. Israeli technology employers need substantially more people online and on the cleanroom floor.
Turns out that the call for more, and better-trained high tech personnel dovetails well with an oft-stated, long-term goal of Israeli President Shimon Peres: to better integrate Israel's Arab sector (which makes up over 20 percent of the population) into Israeli society and the Israeli job market.
With that need in mind, Israeli President Shimon Peres recently inaugurated a public-private-sector initiative called Project Maantech. The comprehensive program is aimed at channeling the best and the brightest among Israeli-Arab high school and university graduates toward the thriving but understaffed high-tech sector. Peres and Cisco Systems chairman and CEO John Chambers came up with the idea at last year's World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The term maan in Arabic means "together," and the tech side of that cooperation includes 20 leading Israeli and international powerhouses, among them Amdocs, Check Point, Cisco, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Oracle.The Israeli government is kicking in $20 million of the $50 million total fund, with the remainder coming from private sources.
IBM Petah Tikvah. IBM is one of the high-tech companies taking part in the new scheme
by President Shimon Peres.
'Let society profit'
Peres insists that the idea was not merely a corporate goodwill gesture, but rather good business practice. "The non-governmental sector has gained more power than actual government and it is critical to recruit them for this national mission," Peres said. "The spirit of the thing is to give, the spirit of the thing is to aid, the spirit of the thing is to let society profit and not just the corporations."
Recruitment, training and placement are to be handled by Israel's Manpower human resources company. After registering online, suitable candidates who pass an initial round of testing will take part in a one-day "career marathon." The schedule includes tips on how to prepare for the job interview, a briefing on the high-tech industry, and English language lessons where needed. The next step is matching up the candidates with the appropriate firms.
"It is a blessing to the Israeli economy that, instead of bringing in foreign workers, we have the people of Israel," Peres told dozens of industry leaders gathered in Tel Aviv for the website's launch in February 2011.
The plan is meant to aid the more than 1.5 million Israeli-Arabs who make up almost 21 percent of Israel's population. According to the Authority for the Economic Development of the Arab, Druze and Circassian Sectors in the prime minister's office, the lost potential of the Israeli economy as a result of not implementing the potential workforce of Arab men and women totals NIS 31 billion ($8.39 billion) annually.
Many Israeli Arabs do not enter technology fields due to unfamiliarity with Israeli high-tech culture, as well as lingering prejudices against Arabs - two of the stumbling blocks the plan is meant to tackle. "There are talented Israeli Arabs in the sciences and there is no reason why they shouldn't be integrated," according to Peres. Existing laws and government schemes to better integrate the Arab sector into the economy aren't necessarily implemented, he added.
Last March, the government approved a $216 million, five-year development plan for the Israeli Arab sector focusing on 13 towns, primarily in the Galilee area. One of the chief goals was to increase job accessibility, with an emphasis on women and academics. It aims to add close to 15,000 new employees to the work roster by 2014.
A call to action
Peres said Maantech "is a call to action."
"I call on young Arabs to participate in this initiative. Our intentions are serious and sincere," the president said. "This is a win-win situation."
One Israeli Arab taking up the offer is Said Bakri, a computer sciences student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Bakri told the gathering that he believed "Jews and Arabs can, together, advance Israel's interests - especially in the high-tech field."
The CEO of one of the companies backing Maantech acknowledged its limits. "This initiative is very necessary, but very far from sufficient," said Russell Ellwanger, CEO of the integrated circuit maker, Tower Jazz. Offering his firm's four-year, half-scholarship mentoring program for Israeli-Arabs as an example, Ellwanger said that if this plan were copied by 20 other firms on a yearly basis, "we would not need an initiative or affirmative-action for hiring an Arab - they would have a résumé that's worthwhile on their own for getting a job."
Peres commented that correcting discrimination will be based on science and technology. "This quiet revolution can be done. It is entirely based on good will."
Bakri noted that despite having to overcome societal and educational hurdles, Arab candidates should build on that good will and aim high.
"I say to the Arab sector: 'Give it your best shot and don't give up. If you believe in yourselves, you can make it happen,’" said Bakri.
