Tag: zionism

Blood money

Posted on By 3arabawy

The Israeli-US-Mubarak QIZ partnership struck in 2005 was in effect a milestone in the normalization process between Egypt and the Zionist state, which was marketed by the neo-liberals as offering:

…investors significant long-term advantages over other preferential trade agreements due to its ongoing commitment with no expiration date and no reduction in tariff schedules.
The benefits of Egypt’s QIZ are various; ease of access to US markets being the most important, with open, unlimited quota as well as exemption of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Other benefits include: low factor costs as well as a huge supply of labor force. Enhanced by the added benefits of trade agreements with other markets, Egypt is ideally-suited to provide countless economic benefits to industries located within these zones. The positive economic impact of the QIZ to date has been such that foreign investors and Egyptian companies alike are continually seeking to locate and qualify their businesses within these zones in order to increase their competitiveness and profitability.
Exports from Egypt have greatly risen since QIZ began, with the bulk of these exports going to US markets. Furthermore, companies exporting under the QIZ have enjoyed higher profits as a result of their unrestricted duty-free access.
As QIZ companies continually expand to keep up with this growth, Egypt is benefiting through a decreasing unemployment and a strengthening economy which would eventually strengthen Egypt’s position on the world economic map.

The truth is work conditions in the QIZones are APPALLING mega-sweatshops, where businessmen can run amok with no accountability. Moreover, they receive the blessing of Washington and Tel Aviv as some free trade warriors and peace seekers.

They talk about “growth, positive impact and strengthening Egypt’s position on the world economic map.” Tell that to 24-year-old Alaa Gameel, the worker I interviewed for Al-Masry Al-Youm. He had joined the factory as a 14 year old minor, never given a contract, works 12 hours a day for a daily wage of LE11 (US$2), and had to already sign a resignation with a blank date so that the owner could fire him at any moment, doesn’t have health insurance, doesn’t have retirement funds, and hasn’t gotten paid for three months.

That’s free trade for you.

Israeli sub sails Suez, signaling reach to Iran

Posted on By 3arabawy

From Reuters:

An Israeli submarine sailed the Suez Canal to the Red Sea as part of a naval drill last month, defense sources said on Friday, describing the unusual maneuver as a show of strategic reach in the face of Iran.
Israel long kept its three Dolphin-class submarines, which are widely assumed to carry nuclear missiles, away from Suez so as not to expose them to the gaze of Egyptian harbormasters.
It was unclear when last month the vessel left the Mediterranean. One source said the voyage was planned for months and so was not related to unrest after the June 12 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom the Israelis see as promoting the pursuit of nuclear weapons to threaten them.
Sailing to the Gulf without using Suez would oblige the diesel-fueled Israeli submarines, normally based in the Mediterranean, to circumnavigate Africa — a weeks-long voyage. That would have limited use in signaling Israel’s readiness to retaliate should it ever come under an Iranian nuclear attack.
Shorter-term, the submarines’ conventional missiles could also be deployed in any Israeli strikes on Iran’s atomic sites, which Tehran insists have only civilian energy purposes.
A defense source said the Israeli navy held an exercise off Eilat last month and that a Dolphin took part, having traveled to the Red Sea port though Suez. Israel has a naval base at Eilat, a 10-km (6-mile) strip of coast between Egypt and Jordan, but officials say it has no submarine dock there.
“This was definitely a departure from policy,” said the source, who declined to give further details on the drill or say whether the Dolphin had undergone Egyptian inspections in the canal, through which the submarine sailed unsubmerged.
A military spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the voyage, first reported on Friday by the Jerusalem Post.
EGYPTIAN POSITION
Egyptian officials at Suez said they would neither confirm nor deny reports regarding military movements. One official said that if there was such a passage by Israelis in the canal, it would not be problematic as Egypt and Israel are not at war.

This comes as the Egyptian regime is beefing up its military, not to confront Israel, but to contain Iran!

Obama’s envoy assures Israel of strong alliance

Posted on By 3arabawy

Via Reuters…

US envoy George Mitchell today assured Israel that the United States would remain its close ally despite differences over Jewish settlements and peacemaking with the Palestinians.
Mitchell told President Shimon Peres his goal was to create conditions for “prompt resumption and early conclusion” of talks leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state “side by side in peace and security with the Jewish state of Israel”.
US President Barack Obama, who sent Mitchell back to the Middle East, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are at odds over settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and the Israeli leader’s reluctance to endorse Palestinian statehood.
“Let me be clear. These are not disagreements among adversaries. The United States and Israel are and will remain close allies and friends,” Mitchell said.