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ISRAEL
BONDS
Dead
Sea To Silicon Wadi
By TIM BOXER
BOTH Ehud Barak and Shimon
Peres said Israel is being transformed into Silicon Valley II.
Speaking on videotape at the Israel Bonds 50th
anniversary dinner at the New York Hilton, Prime Minister Barak
said, “Israel Bonds gave us the means to negotiate peace from a
position of strength. Now we have made a decision to make Israel a
full partner in the global economy. Israel is becoming a new Silicon
Valley.”
He reported that investment
in Israeli hi-tech firms hit $617 million in the first quarter this
year, almost four times as much as the same period last year.
Barak,
who cancelled a U.S. visit at the last moment, sent Peres in his
place.
“Your husband asked me to
keep an eye on you,” Peres told the prime minister’s beautiful
wife, Nava, who was seated nearby. “That’s not a bad
job.”
Israel
is in the eastern
hemisphere of Silicon
Valley. It's hard to get
a first-class seat these
days because of all
the traffic to and from
the U.S. by all these
Internet professionals
from Israel.
Joel
Feldusch
EL AL President |
That elicited a hearty
chuckle from the assembly of 1200 people including Ron Lauder,
District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, New York State
comptroller Carl, McCall, New York City comptroller Alan
Hevesi, Marlene Post, Irwin Hochberg, Malcolm Hoenlein, Meir
Rosen, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Cong. Kehiltah Jeshurin,
Yeshiva University’s Dr. Norman Lamm and
survivor/philanthropist Sam Halpern whose 80th
birthday toast was the evening’s highlight.
The
fact that Israel Bonds reached $22.5 billion in sales since its
inception in 1951 prompted Peres to remark, “Fifty years ago we
had two lakes, one dead. We were a dry land, a desert, an army with
no arms. We didn’t have a penny in our pocket. Only crazy people
would come here and invest. Thank you for being crazy.”
That night 1300 guests, all
crazy for Israel, shelled out $117 million for Israel Bonds.
Peres added that Israel is
quickly becoming global because “there are no more regional
economies. You cannot stop pollution at the borders and you cannot
stop rain at customs. Information, science and technology don’t
wear uniforms and are not confined by frontiers.”
In this new economy, speed
is essential, he emphasized. “The faster you are, the richer you
become.”
At the same time, the
winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize added, the peace process plods
on, but is not easy. He recalled sitting with Arafat who
remarked, “Democracy – who invented it? It is so tiring.”
“When Yitzhak Rabin
had to shake Arafat’s hand on the White House lawn, his body
language was revolting.” Peres said. “He turned to me and said,
‘Now it’s your turn.’”
Peres said Israel is
prepared to return the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for peace.
“But Saddam Hussein also wants our land by the Sea of Galilee,”
Peres said. “That he cannot have. We will not make the Sea of
Galilee another dead lake.”
“Each year,” Peres
continued, “Saddam Hussein buys a ticket to the train. Every time
the train arrives, he misses it. We will not miss our train, the
train of peace.
“We shall wait for Syria
to make peace. Our offer of land for peace will stand.”
But Peres is optimistic
about the ultimate goal. “Most of my life, I spent trying to buy
good guns. Not today, because we have good neighbors. Guns don’t
kill – people do.”
And
these Arab people, Peres said, is the new generation “that won’t
want to follow the follies of their fathers. They want peace,
understanding and the new economy.”
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