Archive for the ‘Jerusalem’ Category
December 8th, 2011 | 
Author: Israel – Light onto Nations: Growing forests in the desert
Once the trees are mature, it's possible that they could become a renewable source of biofuel to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. This is another area of great interest to Israel and just about every other country on the planet …
Technion LIVE: Cornell – Technion – Together in Vision
www.technioniit.com12/3/11
During his visit, he planted a now-famous first palm tree that still stands in front of the old Technion building in Hadar. … Its graduates helped to build the county's infrastructure and started the high-tech industries that today make Israel a modern country with the greatest concentration of high-tech startup companies anywhere outside of Silicon Valley. More than 70 percent …. Israel's 10th Nobel laureate on his way to Stockho. … Technion Nanocrystals for Solar Power …
I recently received a link to the following video and thought it well worth posting.
Please note that it was made 6 years ago.
Israel is certainly no angel, and both its politicians and its army make their fair share of mistakes.
But regardless of whether you’re pro or anti Israel, you’ve surely got to admire its upside and wish that other countries could or would achieve the same positive results.
Please post your comments, and if they don’t flame or use abusive and/or hateful language, then they’ll be approved.
Posted in administration, Ahmadinejad, elections, Israel, Jerusalem, Jimmy Carter, Middle East, mubarak, Obama, president, USA, White House | 
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Israel & China To Improve Military Ties To Tackle “Threats …
China should be careful. Israel is a cancer. Muslims brought down the first superpower (USSR), and is bringing down the second one through the same guerilla means (USA). If China creates to much of a commitment to Israel …
Publish Date: 09/04/2011 10:58
http://www.monitorserver.org/israel-china-to-improve-military-ties-to-tackle-threats-challenges/
Israel and China: Mutual Opportunism | Occupied Palestine | فلسطين
The Chinese chief of staff's visit to Israel on August 14 gave rise to speculation about the nature of the relationship between the two countries: its scope, limits, as well its impact on the Middle East region, particularly its effect …
Publish Date: 09/07/2011 8:07
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/israel-and-china-mutual-opportunism/
Relations between Israel and China have always been strong because the Chinese hold Jews in very high esteem because of their incredibly high degree of success in so many fields.
Just check out the huge number of Nobel Prizes that have been won by such a small (12 million Jewish) group of people.
The very strong ties that already exist in the high-tech field are now set to increase and are likely to include closer defense and security ties, in addition to already very advanced academic exchanges.
And Carice Witte, who is the executive director of Sino-Israel Global Network and Academic Leadership (SIGNAL) says that academic exchanges with China carry more weight than they do with many other countries because academics play an important role in advising the government.
*SIGNAL attended Israel’s Herzlya conferences, and is actively involved in the Sichuan University’s Israel program.
So What’s New?
Israel once sold over half a billion dollars of weapons to China on a yearly basis, but that was before the US pressured Israel to halt those ties in the late 1990s.
Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited China last June, and that was the first visit by an Israeli defense minister in over a decade
And earlier that month, Admiral Wu Shengli of the People’s Liberation Army Navy visited Israel.
Two weeks ago, Sichuan International Studies University (SISU) announced the launch of China’s first ever Israel studies program.
China’s Defense Ministry quoted Ehud Barak as saying during his visit.
"The Israeli side values the development of military exchanges and cooperation with China and wishes to work together with our Chinese friends to raise military-to-military relations to a new level".
The Econmic Field
In the economic sphere, ties are showing signs of deepening as well. Israel’s Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry just signed a pact with the National Development and Reform Commission, which will enable Israeli officials to cooperate and consult closely with China’s top economic-planning body.
And state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) recently reached the second stage of a competition to set up a joint venture factory in China to build executive jets with Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
Is There More?
"Yes".
There are scores of other smaller events that also attest to deepening relations.
Last December, a delegation of Likud Party officials led by Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein met with their Communist Party peers in China and this fall, the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Institute’s Center for Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) will host Chinese scholars on regional geopolitics.
How Big Is The Present Trade Between The Two Countries?
Trade has been growing enormously, expanding by 28% in the first quarter of the year, compared with the same period in 2010, but $1.28 billion in the first quarter is still relativley small with China taking just 4% of Israeli exports.
Supposed experts say however that that figure belies trade that reaches China through third countries, and also the extent of research and development cooperation.
What Is The History Of The Relationship?
The two countries formally established diplomatic relations in 1992, which is nearly half a century after the two states were founded.
Defense ties actually flourished before that however, because shrouded in secrecy, and according to the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Israel’s defense sales to China were estimated at about $5.7 billion between 1984 and 1994.
How Does The US Figure Into This?
Israel won a $1.2 billion deal to sell Beijing an early airborne radar system and drones but Washington blocked it in 1999 and Israel paid $300 million in compensation to the Chinese.
Prevented from carrying out military deals in the years that followed, Israel and China embarked on expanded cooperation in civilian technology.
Israel contributed the innovation and China the manufacturing.
Private Planes And Non-Military Sales
The IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) has yet to successfully beat out Canada’s Bombardier, as well as America’s Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft: but serious plans are underway to do just that.
A joint China/Israel operation is underway at a joint venture production plant with AVIC slated to be based in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. While the joint venture is for civilian aircraft, both IAI and AVIC are principally defense aeronautics companies.
Following a serious spat between Washington and Jerusalem which was caused by Israel’s intention to build Phalcon airborne radar aircraft and to upgrade Harpy drones, Jerusalem promised not to sell China defense technology or anything that might have dual military-civilian applications.
But somewhat surprisingly, the Calcalist (Israel’s version of the The Economist) economic daily reported several days ago that Washington has approved IAI’s bid.
Minorities And Relations With Diaspora Communities
Whereas Chinese/Israeli cooperation was initially limited to technology and innovation, China’s interest in Israel has now expanded to learning from Israel about dealing with minorities and relations with Diaspora communities.
The Chinese are said to have “great respect” for Israel’s handling of relations with Jewish communities abroad and would like to form similar ties with overseas Chinese.
They are also said to be similarly impressed with how the Jews and Israel have succeeded in educating the world about their history, in particular the Holocaust and would like to memorialize the Nanjing massacre with the same kind of power and impact that the Jewish people have done memorializing their history.
"The Nanjing massacre", refers to the mass murder and rape that occurred after the Japanese captured Nanjing in 1937.
Both China and Israel Are Looking Ahead
Observers say that China’s growing interest in Israel goes hand in hand with its emergence as a major world power and stress that it has a growing interest in regional stability in the Middle East, and sees Israel as a critical player.
And the Israeli business community and government are fully aware that China will most likely be the world’s leading economy within 4-5 years.
It takes two to tango, and Israel and China seem to be in lock-step right now.
