DATE=5/30/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL / LEBANON / ECON (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262979
BYLINE=ROSS DUNN
DATELINE=METULLA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Israel's northern frontier is suffering new
economic problems, following the closure of the border
with Lebanon. Ross Dunn reports from Metulla that
many communities are being forced to look elsewhere
for foreign labor because Lebanese workers are being
denied entry to the Jewish State.
TEXT: Israel's border with Lebanon was once
considered the most open international crossing point
in the Middle East. Lebanese workers traveled daily
into Israel and returned to their homes each night.
But this has all changed following Israel's recent
withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon.
In the wake of the troop pullback, the crossing points
have been sealed and employment in Israel is no longer
an option for Lebanese.
Rubin Weinberg, the owner of the Alaska Inn Hotel in
Metulla along the Lebanese border, says this has also
had other unexpected - and for his hotel - tragic
consequences. Mr. Weinberg says that when the border
was sealed he lost 19 of his 20 Lebanese workers.
But perhaps even more distressing, says Mr. Weinberg,
is the fact that the other staff member, a Lebanese
women, remains trapped on the Israeli side, cut off
from her family.
/// WEINBERG ACT ///
She can not get back. Now she has two children
at home, her children need her very much because
the children were born crippled, no hands and no
legs. So the children are at home, with no one
to take care of them and she is crying, and she
is crying...
/// ACT ENDS ///
Mr. Weinberg says he is currently attempting to
negotiate the woman's return to Lebanon through the
International Red Cross. In the meantime, he has also
begun hiring Asian workers to keep his hotel
operating.
He is just one of many employers in Israel's north,
who became dependent on Lebanese workers.
Orchards, restaurants, and factories have also been
affected. But so, too, have the Lebanese workers.
About three-thousand Lebanese worked in northern
Israel. They earned up to three-times more than in
their economically depressed home towns.
Many want to continue their employment in Israel, but
for the immediate future this seems highly unlikely.
The militant Islamic group, Hezbollah, which has taken
over much of southern Lebanon, is showing no
willingness to maintain economic ties with the Jewish
State. (SIGNED)
NEB/RD/GE/RAE
30-May-2000 14:39 PM EDT (30-May-2000 1839 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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