The Israeli Economy and the Challenges of Globalization

Osem is a major company wholly involved in the "old economy" (food), but Koor is a different story. Under Histadrut ownership, it divided its activities between traditional branches and new ones such as electronics. Since 1977, it has been under the part-ownership of the Canadian Bronfman...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Palestine-Israel journal of politics, economics, and culture economics, and culture, 2001-08, Vol.VIII (2), p.104-104
Main Author: Davidi, Efraim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arab-Israeli conflict
Branch banking
Conflict
Defence policy
Economic conditions
Economic crisis
Economics
Finance
Globalization
International
International relations
International trade
Investments
Multinational corporations
Palestinian people
Recession
Recessions
Tourism
Trade relations
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Summary:Osem is a major company wholly involved in the "old economy" (food), but Koor is a different story. Under Histadrut ownership, it divided its activities between traditional branches and new ones such as electronics. Since 1977, it has been under the part-ownership of the Canadian Bronfman family (which made its money from the drink and food industries). The company changed course, moving from the "old" to the "new" economy. It sold "old economy" enterprises in order to concentrate on hi-tech. At first sight, there is nothing in common between the damage to the Israeli economy caused by the Nasdaq and by the Intifada. The decline of the computer industry in the world and the growing recession in the U.S.A. and Western Europe (not to speak of Japan) have no direct connection to the Palestinian struggle for independence. But the connection does exist, and this if only because Englist from the Goldman-Sachs Investment Bank says "an F16 plane in the skies of Gaza has economic significance." 3 When the Intifada broke out at the end of September 2000, voices calling for "separation" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority made themselves heard in Israeli government circles. The term "separation" was never given real substance, and in the Israeli peace camp there was fear that it be transformed in reality into apartheid ("separation"' in Afrikaans). These fears were not only heard in the peace camp. Directors of large economic companies also expressed fears about being cut off from the Palestinian economy, and former minister of finance, Avraham Shohat, made every effort to prevent a Palestinian boycott of Israeli products. Immediately after his election, and before taking office, [Sharon] held a large number of meetings with industrialists, capitalists and bankers -- in effect, with all the important figures in the 50 or so families who run the economy. It was there that he was to receive strong backing, along with a request to establish a government of national unity. This circle of 50 families, which so strongly supported a "new economy" and "a new Middle East," realized that they aren't so different from those of the "old economy" and that a "new Middle East" cannot be established without solving several basic problems of the "old Middle East," with the central problem being that of Palestinian nationalism.
ISSN:0793-1395