Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Shana Tova!

Have a great, safe and sweet New Year!

Why Israel Is A Land Of Tech Promise -- Again

After a years-long slump, Israel is seeing a slew of IPOs, mergers, and new startups

Israel's high-tech sector finally is emerging from a long financial drought. On Aug. 25, Cisco Systems Inc. acquired P-Cube Inc., a Tel Aviv developer of network-traffic-management hardware, for $200 million. The deal was Cisco's second in Israel in three months, and it's not the only Silicon Valley player on the prowl. 'There's a lot of talk about several of the major global technology players on the verge of cutting deals in the next few weeks,' says Gilay Dolev, senior analyst at D&A High Tech Information Ltd., an industry-analysis firm based just outside Tel Aviv.

Why the renewed interest in Israel? First, for a small country, Israel has lots of startups. And startups, unlike big Western tech giants, didn't have the luxury of cutting back research & development to get through the downturn. So the Israelis kept innovating even as the global tech industry swooned and fighting surged between Israelis and Palestinians. Now there are lots of small survivors with leading-edge technology in areas such as Internet security, wireless broadband, and medical devices. No wonder acquisition activity is up by some 25% over the past year.

The global recovery has energized Israel's so-called silicon wadis, the collective term for the dozen-plus high-technology parks scattered throughout the country. Tech exports surged 20% in the first six months of the year, to more than $6 billion. And the Tel-Tech 15 index is up 48% in the past 12 months.

Israeli high-tech companies also are returning to Wall Street after a lengthy hiatus. So far this year three outfits -- Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd., which develops electronic payment systems, PowerDsine Ltd. (PDSN ), a maker of integrated circuits for telecoms, and Syneron Medical Ltd. (ELOS ) -- have joined the over 70 local high-tech outfits traded on the NASDAQ. 'There are at least a half-dozen initial public offerings and a number of follow-on offerings ready to go to market by the end of the year,' says Leonard G. Rosen, Lehman Brothers Inc. managing director and head of the investment bank's Israeli business.

One of Israel's successful tech entrepreneurs is Giora Yaron, co-founder of P-Cube. The 56-year-old physicist has launched four companies, two of which he sold to Cisco. Before picking up P-Cube in August, Cisco paid $118 million for Pentacom Ltd. in 2000. 'There's no secret recipe for successful startups. It's just having the right technology when the big boys need it,' claims Yaron. In the case of P-Cube, Cisco was hearing from its own customers about the need to integrate the Israeli startup's technology into its networking routers.

Cisco's love affair with Israeli high tech began in 1998, when it acquired Class Data Systems, a maker of quality-control software, for $50 million. Since then it has ponied up nearly $1 billion for seven Israeli startups, three of them in the past few months. '[The Israelis] have a strong tradition of innovation in engineering and a strong technical tradition. It's similar to what we see in Silicon Valley,' says Ned Hooper, senior director for corporate development for Cisco.

DOWN-TO-EARTH VALUATIONS
Despite the new deals, no one anticipates a return to the heady days of 2000. In June of that year, Lucent Technologies Inc. bought Chromatis Networks for a hefty $4.8 billion, the most ever paid for an Israeli startup. By contrast, 17 of 31 deals in the past year have been for less than $10 million. 'Valuations have come down to earth,' says Zeev Holtzman, founding partner of Tel Aviv-based Giza Venture Capital, a leading local fund.

That's one of the main factors drawing venture capitalists to Israel. Industry experts predict local venture funds will raise over $1 billion this year, with most of the funds coming from American and European institutional investors. The wadis certainly need the rain."

Half of Israelis on High-Speed Internet

The majority of Israeli homes now have Internet access, with 57 percent on line, according to a new survey by the Smith Research and Consulting Institute for Tel Aviv University's Center for Internet Research. A year ago, the rate was only 46%.

The representative sample of 500 adults (margin of error 4.5 percent) found that surfing for information is the most popular activity among Israeli Web users (44% said this was their primary activity), while sending and receiving e-mail are in second place (28% as a primary activity), and surfing consumer sites is third (8% as a primary activity). The use of the Internet for downloading programs and games and participating in chat groups or ICQ immediate messaging was found to be only 4% each.

Of the 57% who use Internet from home, 50% have a high-speed line (ADSL or cable), and only 7% use a regular phone line to reach their browser and e-mail server.

Fouad Ajami: Facing up to unholy terror

Worth reading.

Letter urges US anti-Semitism monitor

More than 100 religious leaders, former US officials, writers, artists, and academics, have written to US Secretary of State Colin Powell to protest the State Department's opposition to a congressional bill that would require the department to set up an office dedicated to combating anti-Semitism, and issue an annual report on anti-Semitism around the world.

The State Department has said it opposes the bill because it would show favoritism by "extending exclusive status to one religious or ethnic group."

Rep. Tom Lantos (D-California), a Holocaust survivor, authored the proposed Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act.

"The State Department's position on the Lantos legislation carries troubling echoes of the past," says the September 10 letter organized by former Democratic congressman Stephen Solarz and the Pennsylvania-based David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.

The institute, the letter says, "has documented how, during the Holocaust, the State Department did its best to downplay the Jewish identity of Hitler's victims – even though the Nazi regime had clearly singled out Jews for annihilation."

In a letter to Lantos in July, the State Department's Bureau of Legislative Affairs said the Department "strongly agrees that anti-Semitism is a problem, and one that the US Government is working vigorously to eliminate."

It noted, however, that the department already details anti-Semitic acts and attitudes through its annual human rights and international religious freedom reports.

A separate reporting requirement on anti-Semitism "could erode our credibility by being interpreted as favoritism in human rights reporting," it said.

Those who signed the letter to Powell included former secretary of housing Jack Kemp, former US ambassador to the UN Jeane Kirkpatrick, former CIA director James Woolsey, former national security adviser Anthony Lake, Yale University Divinity School Dean Harold Attridge, writer Cynthia Ozick, and Richard Perle, a former Pentagon adviser who is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Many who signed the critique, like Perle, are strong supporters of the Bush administration.

Lawmakers Blast European Hamas Support

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers criticized Europeans for supporting charities linked to Hamas and Hezbollah on Tuesday, with one saying it was like doing business with the "political wing of the Nazi party" while rejecting the military wing.

The criticism was leveled at European Union counterterrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries as he appeared with American officials at a Capitol Hill review of how well the United States and its allies are working together to fight terrorism.

Once again, this administration hides the truth from the American people, John F. Kerry told seniors. (Gerald Herbert -- AP)
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William Pope, a State Department anti-terrorism coordinator, told two House International Relations subcommittees that the EU as a whole "has been reluctant to take steps to block the assets of charities linked to Hamas and Hezbollah, even though these groups repeatedly engage in deadly terrorist attacks, and the charitable activities help draw recruits."

The groups get "a considerable portion of their funding from Europe," Pope said in a written statement to the panel, saying Europe and the United States have "differing perspectives on the dividing line between legitimate political or charitable activity and support for terrorists groups."

Funds the groups allegedly raise for humanitarian purposes are easily diverted for terrorist acts, Pope said.

Rep. Robert I. Wexler, D-Fla., told de Vries it was hard for some Americans to understand the distinction between political and military wings of the organizations.

"Would you have thought it acceptable for a European citizen to do business with the political wing of the Nazi Party and divide that separate from the military wing?" asked Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif.

"And if not, why is it OK for Europeans to provide aid and comfort to those who have so much blood on their hands by saying, 'Oh, these are just the politicians?'"

Arab FMs support Syrian occupation of Lebanon

CAIRO, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Arab foreign ministers on Tuesday voiced 'full solidarity' with Lebanon against any attempt to sever its ties with Syria.

'The ministers show full solidarity with Lebanon against any attempt to hit historic relations with Syria,' said a statement issued at the end of a regular meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.

The ministers also renewed their rejection to a unilateral US sanction against Syria, the statement said.

On Sept. 2, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution demanding respect for Lebanon's political independence and withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country.

The United States, which accuses Syria of exerting too much influence over extending Lebanese incumbent President Emile Lahoud's six-year term, has circulated a draft resolution to other Security Council members.

Syria sent troops to help quell a year-old civil war in Lebanonin 1976 and the forces remained through 14 years of fighting and are still deployed in the country.

Lebanon's government has reiterated that the presence of the Syrian army has been a stabilizing factor since its 1975-90 civil war."

German minister backs Israel's fence

The controversial security fence Israel has been building as a defensive barrier against terrorist raids originating in Palestine has received support from a surprising source: Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily.

Mr Schily is quoted in Deutsche Welle as saying that the barrier is effective because it has led to a drop in attacks on Israel. He also rejected comparisons between the Israeli fence and the Berlin Wall.

'Those who draw comparisons with the Berlin Wall are wrong, because it does not shut people in and deprive them of their freedom,' Schily told Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday, DW said. 'Its purpose is to protect Israel from terrorists.'

Speaking from Israel where he is attending an international conference on terrorism, Mr Schilly said the security barrier was the result of decades of failed efforts to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from crossing the border and attacking Israel.

'All the efforts undertaken over many years, even decades, have unfortunately failed to bear fruit,' he said, according to DW. 'So it is understandable that Israel should try to erect a protective barrier, which furthermore has shown it works, and I think that the criticism is far from the reality.'

In the radio interview, Schily also insisted the security barrier should be referred to as a 'fence' and not a 'wall,' as it is often called in Germany, DW said.

The statements were harshly criticised by Palestinian spokesmen who said the remarks were inconsistent with the official position of the German government. But a spokesman for the German foreign ministry indicated that the concerns Germany had over the fence were primarily about its route, not its construction, DW said.
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Bad Statistics

If they polled 1300 people, of whom 3% described themselves as "extreme right-wing", then all of their questions to this group was to a group of less than 50 people. Statistically, this is a joke - there is a reason that surveys use a thousand people, not fifty. If they find 1000 "extreme right wingers" and get the same results then this would be a story.

SUPPORT FOR POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL RISING

Ongoing research studying tendencies of political violence in Israeli Jewish circles suggests that there is a steady rise in the support for political violence among the radical right.

A series of polls has been carried out on this topic by Haifa University’s National Security Studies Center.

The most recent poll was conducted in September. It polled 1,613 of Israel’s Jewish population with a margin of error of between three and five percent.

One in every four declared supporters of the extreme right wing believes that sending threats and hate mail to public figures may at times be necessary in order to stop a dangerous political measure.

The term ‘supporter of extreme right wing’ was determined according to the interviewees’ declared political stand (choosing from the options ‘extreme right wing,’ ‘right wing,’ ‘center,’ ‘left wing,’ ‘extreme left wing.’) Some 3% of those polled declared they belonged to the extreme right wing.

Some 18.5 percent of radical right wing supporters believe that when a political disaster is imminent and all means of protest have been exhausted, physical harm to politicians may be forgivable. This is a 4% rise compared to a similar survey conducted in May 2004, and an 8% rise compared to a poll conducted in February 2003.

Of the radical right supporters, 14.8% said they believe there are situations in which there is no option but to use weapons to prevent the government from carrying out its policy. From the total Jewish population in Israel, 9.6% expressed support for this statement. (This also makes little sense, if only 3% are considered "extreme right-wing." - EZ)

The findings are particularly pertinent since the Israeli government is planning to withdraw from Gaza and security forces may encounter physical resistance by those opposing the evacuation.

Hamapatz Hagadol (Safire)

Israel must brace for 'big bang'

WASHINGTON -- In Hebrew, physicists call the theory about the formation of the universe the hamapatz hagadol -- the "big bang." In Israeli politics, that phrase is used today to describe the potential realignment of parties and power.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from Palestinians now under the spell of terrorist leaders brought this simmering pot to a boil.

Sharon's plan calls for completing a security fence to protect almost all Israelis and pulling back into the well-defended territory the remainder of those now most vulnerable in Gaza and the West Bank.

Once a divisive figure, the former general is supported in this plan by an overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens. Like him, they are realists: Israel needs defensible borders and cannot absorb Palestinians nearby.

But 7,000 deeply religious and courageous Jewish settlers -- who live amid the 1.2 million Arabs in Gaza -- see this as a double-cross. Within the Likud Party that Sharon founded three decades ago, they are an admired force of pioneers. As a result, though Arik wins landslides in national elections, he loses to supporters of settlers in referendums within his rightist party.

The day of decision in the Knesset to adopt his disengagement plan is near. (Coincidentally, it will be in the first week in November, as elections are held in the United States.)

The level of fury and viciousness is worse than in the days before the assassination of Yitzak Rabin. Sharon, the lifelong embodiment of Israeli security, is being reviled as a traitor and threatened with death. Members of the Israeli Defense Forces are urged to disobey orders to dislodge settlers when moving day comes. Febrile minds in the settler minority even warn of civil war.

At a moment like this, Sharon expects members of his coalition Cabinet to speak out for his plan. They vote his way -- 9-1 in the Cabinet this week to richly compensate the settlers being moved -- but some of the Likudniks are keeping mum, lest they upset the hardest-line members of their own party.

Benjamin Netanyahu, who as Sharon's finance minister is becoming the Jewish Alexander Hamilton, has found a way to hedge. On one hand, he votes in the Cabinet for disengagement, even as his family denounces it; on the other, Bibi proposes delaying the November disengagement vote until a national referendum can be held.

That straddle has Sharon seething. He knows the momentum of battle, and sees delay as destructive. A referendum requires legislation, with lengthy debate, a probable filibuster and a wrangle over whether Arabs can participate. He believes that deviation from his timetable -- surrendering to threats of violence from within -- would mean six months of paralysis and a loss of the initiative.

I sent in a single query to Arik about Bibi's suggestion. An aide passed back his response: "I hear all sorts of suggestions, but not one word from him about the incitement to civil war. Not one word."

I think there will be no referendum or election before the Knesset vote to disengage. Sharon's plan will carry with the support of either the Shimon Peres or Ehud Barak faction of Labor, the centrist Shinui Party and Arik's followers.

Now let's consider the possibility of a political big bang. That convergence of forces on the disengagement vote could be the genesis of "New Likud." The anti-Arik faction of Likud would go its own way, hitching up with several of the religious parties.

My unsourced guess is that Bibi would choose the New Likud, which would reflect the Israeli majority. After Arik retires, like Cincinnatus, to his farm -- and with a new Palestinian leader ready to become a partner in creating a peaceful neighborhood -- the Hamiltonian Bibi would compete for leadership with the Sharon loyalist Ehud Olmert, former mayor of the still-undivided Jerusalem.

Thus, the Israeli system would have the gall to divide into three manageable parts, with the center party making deals for a majority with left and right. Not a bad way to run a parliamentary democracy.

Having had the chutzpah to predict the coming hamapatz hagadol, let me wish a peaceful Rosh Hashana to all.

William Safire's e-mail address is safire@nytimes.com

Israpundit: freemuslims.org Speaks Out

By Andrew L. Jaffee; netwmd.com

People from all walks of life keep asking me the same question: “Are there moderate Muslims?” I know myself that there are, but… Many of the moderates are faced with intimidation by militant Muslims (“Islamists”). Muslims also have to contend with their own old cultural habits, hateful religious leaders, a bigoted press, and schools that teach hatred and homicide bombings. As usual, just as things seem the darkest, I happen upon something that brightens my spirit -- at least a little. Last week, FOXNews mentioned the organization “Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism” (FMCAT). I immediately went to their website, and was surprised at what I found.

When posed with the “Are there moderate Muslims?” question, I often react as eminent Middle East expert Daniel Pipes taught me:

…I dutifully provide lists of names and organizations, then confess that they [moderate Muslims] are largely fractured, isolated, intimidated, and ineffectual.

The press has done a disservice to moderate Muslims by editing news about terrorism and pumping up Islamists as "mainstream." While moderate Muslims are rare, I'm hopeful when they do raise a voice of reason. I don’t want to celebrate too soon -- boy, have I been burned in the past -- but let’s start out taking FMCAT at face value.

What struck me most about the Free Muslim Coalition’s website was their headline story, “We are so Sorry for 9-11.” This isn’t an admission of collective guilt, nor is it a whitewash of Muslim involvement in 9/11. Rather, it is a well-written rebuttal of the Muslim victim mentality and blame-game that is all too prevalent nowadays:

After September 11, many in the Muslim world chose denial and hallucination rather than face up to the sad fact that Muslims perpetrated the 9-11 terrorist acts and that we have an enormous problem with extremism and support for terrorism. Many Muslims, including religious leaders, and “intellectuals” blamed 9-11 on a Jewish conspiracy and went as far as fabricating a tale that 4000 Jews did not show up for work in the World Trade Center on 9-11. Yet others blamed 9-11 on an American right wing conspiracy or the U.S. Government which allegedly wanted an excuse to invade Iraq and “steal” Iraqi oil.

After numerous admissions of guilt by Bin Laden and numerous corroborating admissions by captured top level Al-Qaida operatives, we wonder, does the Muslim leadership have the dignity and courage to apologize for 9-11? If not 9-11, will we apologize for the murder of school children in Russia? If not Russia, will we apologize for the train bombings in Madrid, Spain? If not Spain, will we apologize for suicide bombings in buses, restaurants and other public places? If not suicide bombings, will we apologize for the barbaric beheadings of human beings? If not beheadings, will we apologize for the rape and murder of thousands of innocent people in Darfour? If not Darfour, will we apologize for the blowing up of two Russian planes by Muslim women? What will we apologize for? What will it take for Muslims to realize that those who commit mass murder in the name of Islam are not just a few fringe elements? What will it take for Muslims to realize that we are facing a crisis that is more deadly than the Aids epidemic? What will it take for Muslims to realize that there is a large evil movement that is turning what was a peaceful religion into a cult?

Will Muslims wake up before it is too late? Or will we continue blaming the Jews and an imaginary Jewish conspiracy? The blaming of all Muslim problems on Jews is a cancer that is destroying Muslim society from within and it must stop.

The author, Kamal Nawash, president of FMCAT, advocates some concrete steps Muslims can take before “it is too late:”

Muslims must look inward and put a stop to many of our religious leaders who spend most of their sermons teaching hatred, intolerance and violent jihad. We should not be afraid to admit that as Muslims we have a problem with violent extremism. We should not be afraid to admit that so many of our religious leaders belong behind bars and not behind a pulpit. Only moderate Muslims can challenge and defeat extremist Muslims. We can no longer afford to be silent. If we remain silent to the extremism within our community then we should not expect anyone to listen to us when we complain of stereotyping and discrimination by non-Muslims; we should not be surprised when the world treats all of us as terrorists; we should not be surprised when we are profiled at airports. Simply put, not only do Muslims need to join the war against terror, we need to take the lead in this war.

As to apologizing, we will no longer wait for our religious leaders and “intellectuals” to do the right thing. Instead, we will start by apologizing for 9-11. We are so sorry that 3000 people were murdered in our name. We will never forget the sight of people jumping from two of the highest buildings in the world hoping against hope that if they moved their arms fast enough that they may fly and survive a certain death from burning. We are sorry for blaming 9-11 on a Jewish or right wing conspiracy. We are so sorry for the murder of more than three hundred school children and adults in Russia. We are so sorry for the murder of train passengers in Spain. We are so sorry for all the victims of suicide bombings. We are so sorry for the beheadings, abductions, rapes, violent Jihad and all the atrocities committed by Muslims around the world. We are so sorry for a religious education that raised killers rather than train people to do good in the world. We are sorry that we did not take the time to teach our children tolerance and respect for other people. We are so sorry for not rising up against the dictators who have ruled the Muslim world for decades. We are so sorry for allowing corruption to spread so fast and so deep in the Muslim world that many of our youth lost hope. We are so sorry for allowing our religious leaders to relegate women to the status of forth class citizens at best and sub-humans at worse.

The Free Muslim Coalition is headquartered in -- where else – the good old USA (Washington, DC). The group will be physically safer in the U.S. It will enjoy protection from anti-free-speech zealots like those in the Canadian government. Unfortunately, Nawash’s words will be considered blasphemy even by many American Muslims as Islamists have “taken over 80 percent of the mosques” in the United States. Nonetheless, FMCAT is here and takes many “controversial” (i.e., sensible) positions.

FMCAT rejects the Islamist party line requiring strict adherence to the Koran and universal/forced conversion of the world’s populace to Islam:

The Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism does not seek to change the tenets of the religion. However, the Coalition believes that the Koran only provides general principals of governance which leaves the faithful with substantial flexibility to modernize popular Muslim practices and beliefs.

The Coalition seeks to encourage discussion among Muslims about every aspect of their religion as it applies to modern times. The unwillingness of the Muslim religious establishment to consider modernizing the faith has relegated most Muslims to third world status and in many instances to a medieval existence.

Those who seek change are often afraid to speak out because of the aggressive and violent nature of those Muslims who reject change. The silence of peaceful Muslims has resulted in the hijacking of Islam by extremists and terrorists. This must change.

FMCAT “believes that there can NEVER be a justification for terrorism,” instead of hocking the usual “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” mantra. The Free Muslim Coalition believes that democracy and economic development will be the cure for terrorism:

…that if more people in the Middle East were given an opportunity to play a role in their governance then they will be less likely to resort to terrorism as a means to effect political change. ...

Equal access to economic opportunities for all people regardless of ethnicity, gender, marital status or religion is a democratic value that should be nurtured in the Muslim world as well as in Muslim communities in the West. The Coalition integrates the value of economic equality into our message in order to stop terrorism by destroying its base of support.

The Free Muslim Coalition rejects Islamist anti-Jewish rhetoric (“Don't Blame the ‘Jews’”) and implicitly supports Israel's right to exist. Because of FMCAT's positive view of democracy and capitalism, I would venture to believe that they've noticed how the Israelis, with a tiny population of 6.5 million, have built a $122 billion economy [1] -- only 2.46% of which is U.S. aid. But FMCAT goes soft on the problem of Palestinian terrorism. They do state that Muslim terrorist groups have cynically used the Palestinian/Israeli conflict to justify terrorism. While they don’t explicitly equate Israel’s democracy with the terrorist chaos that rules Palestinians, FMCAT’s proposed solutions to the conflict are half-hearted at best. For example, the Free Muslim Coalition states,

We understand why President Bush does not want to work with Yasser Arafat. However, President Bush’s refusal to work with Arafat does not mean we should do nothing. The United States can work with the Palestinian Prime Minister instead. If Arafat fires the Prime Minister, the United States should work with the prime minister that replaces him. …

Hundreds of innocent Palestinians and Israelis have been killed. The Killing of innocent civilians must stop. At the end of the day, the Palestinians and Israelis want freedom and peace. The Palestinians and Israelis want normal lives, want to be employed, want their children to become engineers, doctors and lawyers and we should do everything we can to help them achieve this goals.

While rejecting Arafat is a good thing, advocating negotiations with his front-men is useless. We all know what happened to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) first prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. He was fired because he tried to limit some of Arafat’s absolute power. Arafat and his PA are in too deep with the terrorists. FMCAT’s conclusion about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is just feel-good fluff. If they’d done their homework, FMCAT would remember that Israel tried to negotiate with the Arabs in 1918, 1949, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1993, and 2000, and gave up territory for peace in 1957, 1974, 1975, 1982, 1988, 1994, 1995, and 1998. If FMCAT really is a “Coalition Against Terrorism,” it should explicitly call for the destruction of all Palestinian terrorist groups and the removal of Arafat as PA president.

Will FMCAT have staying power? The group already has reported that its members have been threatened for straying from the Islamist party line. Is FMCAT for real? I hope so. I haven’t had enough time to follow the group, but I will and shall regularly report on their activities. FMCAT has 9 local chapters in the U.S., and one office in New Zealand. Their website collects reports on “Muslim extremism or support for terrorism.” They also have a newsletter (see their homepage).

BBC : Israeli city says barrier is 'working'

The frequency of attacks by suicide bombers in Israel seems to be slowing, with many Israelis saying the reason is obvious - the barrier separating the West Bank from Israel is keeping out the suicide bombers.

One of the places benefiting from this is the Israeli seaside city of Netanya.

Svid Sacks, from Netanya's city council, says: "In 2001, we had about six attacks here in Netanya.

"In 2002, we had four attacks in Netanya. In 2003, we had one attack in Netanya and in 2004 we had no suicide or no bomb in Netanya."

For him, these figures mean something very clear: Israel's barrier is working.

He and his colleagues have watched as the barrier has been built and suicide attacks in their city have stopped.

Mr Sacks said the barrier was a very positive thing. But he added: "It changes the Palestinians' life and I'm terribly sorry about it because they've got to lose much more than we've got to lose."

'Back to life'

The central promenade here on the coast in Netanya used to be a pretty terrifying place for most Israelis.

This is the place that Palestinian suicide bombers often tried and succeeded in attacking.

But now Israel's built its barrier and this central promenade has come back to life.

There are dozens of cafes all around me with plenty of people sitting outside and enjoying the sun.

What you really notice is that there are very few security guards around and that there are no fences stopping you from getting into the cafes.

In Jerusalem at the moment, when you try to go to an outdoor cafe, you have got to get past a fence, past plenty of security guards, having your bags checked and so on.

But here everything is open and it wasn't like this before the barrier was built.

The busy tables are a pleasant sight for a smiling man called Maurice. He's French-Israeli and his cafe, La Creperie, is doing much better than it used to.

"There is a big difference. People feel much safer, people are going out much more these days and it's all thanks to the barrier," he says.

A British tourist from Reading sitting happily at Maurice's cafe also thinks the security is very good.

"If you're going to come to the Middle East, then it's probably got the best security of anywhere." he says

"I was here in 2000 and 2001 - there has been a noticeable drop in bombings which is obviously brilliant."

Tourists coming back

And it is not just coffee drinkers in the sun who feel much safer nowadays.

The common view in Netanya is that everyone is better off because of the barrier and people are coming back.

Over the summer hotels were fully booked. Carol Shaw, who lives in Netanya and works as an estate agent, says the lack of any recent bombing gave her a nice relaxed feeling.

"I can walk around freely without looking at everybody that's passing me to see if he's an Arab or not an Arab, he's got explosives underneath his clothes or not."

From the edges of Netanya, you can look out and see the West Bank hills on the horizon.

But you can't make out the fences and the walls that Israel has built on the ground.

And in this city there's no great debate about the barrier's legality or about the confiscation of Palestinian land and the encirclement of nearby Palestinian towns.

For Israelis here the equation is simple: the barrier has gone up and life has got better.