Today: September 6, 2010

 

Heavy Rain Hits Israel

Posted: Fri 22nd January 2010 4.15 PM  | Author: GoodNews Israel

Quote for the Week
“The rain is good for tourism, good for farming and best of all for the soul,"- Elegantly phrased by Sharon Yavzuri, a member of Kibbutz Kfar Haruv on the Golan Heights.

Rain

The Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights saw heavy rain all day on Wednesday, bringing the water flow in the Jordan River and its tributaries to volumes that hadn't been seen in many years, and drawing visitors to the north. And all this was a day after the south of the country, which is semi-desert if you’ll remember, was breaking records with the downpours that were saturating everything in sight. Add to this the fact that Mount Hermon is now covered with a thin blanket of snow, not enough for skiers yet, but getting there, and desalination plants coming into operation at a steady rate and it would seem that a solution to our water problems is probably closer than we think. GN doesn’t come better than that.    

Haiti 

The Israeli delegation, the largest per capita of population in Haiti, has been doing wonderful and heartwarming things to alleviate the unbelievable suffering there. So much so that they have become the darling of the world’s media, not, we might add a role that we’re often called upon to play. Let it be said though that this is not some PR exercise, it is the effort of a team of highly professional, totally dedicated men and women who have given and are continuing, as we write, to give their all to this humanitarian cause. 

The IDF has set up a communications system in Haiti worth NIS 8-10 million that has now become one of the disaster-hit nation's main means of keeping in touch. On Wednesday night, the Israeli surgeons in the field hospital in Port-au-Prince carried out procedures via video conferencing with colleagues at Sheba Medical Center Tel Hashomer outside Tel Aviv. "All the correspondents in the area use the systems," said officer-in-charge Magal. "We try to let local residents use the system as often as possible. There was a case of a woman whom we rescued after six days, and the first thing she asked was to call her mother. We came to her bed and helped her place the call." And that, dear reader, just about sums up what these soldiers, and that’s what they are, are all about.

Palestinians

 Despite the political impasse, Israel's agricultural relationship with the Palestinians is quite healthy and not only because we’re talking fruit and vegetables: In 2009 Israel imported 100,000 tons of agricultural products from the West Bank, the Agriculture Ministry announced this week. Israel purchased such large quantities of vegetables in part, due to the Jewish shmita or Sabbatical year, when fields must lie fallow. The largest import was in cucumbers - 20,129 tons of them, to be exact. We added that for the sake of authenticity. Because of the improved economic situation in the West Bank [they showed annual growth of over 5% and good for them] the Palestinian Authority also purchased 250,000 tons of agricultural goods of kinds that they don’t produce, from Israel.  

Sport

The Israeli fencing team, made up of five athletes and three escorts, made an historical landing in Doha, Qatar, to participate in the Fencing Grand Prix on Thursday. Head of the Israeli Fencing Federation Alexander Ivanov said after de-planing [we’ve been waiting a long time to use that word and are not going to miss this opportunity even though our computer tells us that it doesn’t exist], "We come to Doha in peace. We received a warm and pleasant welcome, and we also hope for good results in the competition. Kind of says it all, doesn’t it.

Finally:

• Unemployment dropped to 7.4% of the workforce in November 2009 from a high of 8%, as demand for workers picked up in most, if not all, sectors.
• The main economic performance index, or "S" index, rose 0.4% in December, its ninth increase in a row.
• Global risk rating agency Coface has raised Israel's country risk rating by one grade from A4 to A3, the same rating as Italy, China, and the UK, among others. This is of great importance to Israeli business in terms of the financing of their international trade.

 

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