A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

December 2, 2007 Earthquakes in Israel

Today Israel experienced its third small earthquake in two weeks. None of the earthquakes have caused damage. The fear among seismologists is that a larger earthquake could follow. Two of the earthquakes were centered at the northern tip of the Dead Sea, while the third was centered in town of Ramla, in central Israel. Of course, there has not been any serious earthquake planning in Israel.

There are early signs that the teachersŐ strike may be coming to an end. The government agreed to a plan to increase teacher salaries in return for additional hours working with small groups of students by the teachers. The labor court supports this settlement; unfortunately the teachers have so far not been willing to sign on.

As part of the ongoing peace process, Palestinian President Abbas is asking for additional financial aid from the Arab states and from the West. To date since the Oslo accords, the Palestinians have received a total of 7 Billion dollars. That works out to $23,000 per Palestinian. Where has the money gone? Much has been wasted and large amounts have simply been stolen. In one case, donors gave $200 million to build a new hospital in Bethlehem. They were shown plans and designs. No hospital was ever built. It is conservatively estimated that at least 20% of the money donated has been stolen.