WHILE THE POLITICIANS in Ramallah and Gaza City threaten — and work to that end — the destruction of Israel, the predominately Jewish state helps keep both “Palestines” functioning.
How? Middle East pragmatism.
WHEN I WORKED FOR TADIRAN’s Electronics Division in Holon (Israel) I noticed metal labels written in what I thought was Arabic. (I came to learn the language was Farsi.)
Iran — then ruled by the shah — was licensed by Tadiran to make two-way military class radios. Putting a Tadiran, badge on an Iran-made product would make it difficult to market in the Arab world.
At the same time, Israeli (Tadiran and Amcor) products were purchased by Saudis who wanted refrigeration products (air conditioners, refrigerators) that would survive the Saudi heat.
Pragmatism. I don’t care WHERE a product is made, as long as it works.
SodaStream once had a factory in Mishor Adumim in the so-called “West Bank” (of the Jordan River). Pressure from BDSers forced SodaStream to close this plant, putting an equal number of Israeli Jews and “Palestinian” Arabs out of work. According to a SodaStream video, Arabs and Jews were paid equally; the “Palestinians” were bused to and from work — on SodaStream-provided buses.
SodaStream relocated its Mishor Adumim factory to the Lehavim in the Negev where it employs a significant number of Bedouin as well as Jews.
Wonder where the “Palestinians” in the “West Bank” get their water and electricity? Not from Jordan, but from Israel. In point of fact, the Palestinian Authority was so far behind in its payments to Israel Electric than millions of shekels were written off. Israel also provides some electricity to Gaza and allows generator fuel through to power Gaza generators.
According to the articles, Gaza once had a thriving clothing industry, but with the arrival (election to power) of Hamas, the industry was decimated.
While exports to Israel are helping to revive Gaza’s clothing industry and to provide jobs for hundreds of Gazans previously surviving on handouts from global donors (while Hamas siphons off money to dig tunnels into Israel and Egypt), the industry still has a way to go to return to its “pre-Hamas” level.
Next time you are shopping for a kippa (yarmulke) or bekishe (beketshe) — the long coat worn by some hasidic Jews — check to see, if you can, its origin.
Does it matter? A kippa is a kippa is a kippa. The bekishe, on the other hand, should be checked for shatnez.
(I wonder if Gaza tailors export galabias (a/k/a thobes, caftans, dishdashas, kameezs). I could use a new one.)
From the WWW
The most information is found in the article Gaza’s clothing sector makes a comeback
Similar, albeit condensed versions, may be read at
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
