2009 appears to be headed for a year of discontent. The global economic downturn is having its effect on Israel, as well. Daily reports appear of the firing of personnel.
Israel is the home of research and development for facilities. These have been founded by such companies as IBM, `Intel,, Hewlett Packard and other well known names. These also feel the full force of firing of personnel.
The Israeli high-technology sector is heavily dependent on exports. The decline in international trade is felt as export figures have fallen by nearly two digit figures.
The only bright spots have been the spate of merger and acquisition transactions. Three of them we report upon in this issue.
What then does the future hold? The economic turnaround, when it will come, is dependent on the world's economy. When this returns to some level of stability there is little doubt that Israel will follow suit.
An encouraging development has been the record number of Israelis who have come home.
Also, so far, tourism has not declined significantly.
We look with our inborn optimism to the future. enforced by the knowledge that Israelis show an unusual resilience.
As we write this Israel is in its fifth day of the Gaza Operation. It is our hope that the results will bring an end to the firing of rockets into Israeli territory. 6000 rockets have been fired into Israel in the last five years/
This year we have introduced graphics and are pleased to note that our web site is experiencing nearly 100,000 clicks a month.
As we end our 23rd year if publication we wish all of our readers and friends a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.