Mishor Adumim

Mishor Adumim Industrial Park
פארק תעשייה מישור אדומים

Aerial view of Mishor Adumim industrial park
Mishor Adumim Industrial Park
Coordinates: 31°47′50.40″N 35°19′54.70″E / 31.7973333°N 35.3318611°E / 31.7973333; 35.3318611Coordinates: 31°47′50.40″N 35°19′54.70″E / 31.7973333°N 35.3318611°E / 31.7973333; 35.3318611
District Judea and Samaria Area
Council Ma'ale Adumim
Region West Bank
Founded 1998
Founded by Ma'aleh Adumim
Economic Development Co. Ltd.
Area 1,550 dunams (1.55 km2 or 380 acres)
Population 300 businesses
Name meaning Plain of Adumim

Mishor Adumim (Hebrew: מישור אדומים‎‎) is an industrial park located in the industrial zone of the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, about 10 minutes' drive from Jerusalem, in the West Bank.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law,[1][2] but the Israeli government disputes this.[3]

History

Since 1998, the park has been managed by the Ma'aleh Adumim Economic Development Company Ltd. Stretching over 1,550 dunams (1.55 km2; 0.60 sq mi), it includes businesses and factories, as well as a busy commercial center.[4] In 2014, the park housed 300 factories and small businesses, a bowling alley, two large supermarkets, an art museum and several kosher wineries. These businesses, a few owned by Arabs, among them the Shweiki glass factory, are entitled to special tax breaks under Israeli law.[5] One of the big draws is a Rami Levy supermarket.[6] Adumim Food Ingredients is a food additives company that manufactures nutraceuticals in collaboration with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[7]

The SodaStream factory in Mishor Adumim provided employment for 1,300 workers: 950 Arabs (450 Israeli and 500 Palestinian) and 350 Israeli Jews.[8] The SodaStream plant was established in Mishor Adumim by the company founder Peter Weissburgh in the 1990s, before SodaStream was taken over by the Fortismo Capital Fund in 2007. In 2014, Daniel Birnbaum, the current CEO said that he would not have opened the factory at this site, but its presence there was a reality and he would not bow to political pressure to close it, even after the inauguration of a new plant under construction in Lehavim in the northern Negev.[9] According to Birnbaum, he would not consider closing the plant out of loyalty to its hundreds of Palestinian workers, noting that he could not see how it would help the Palestinian cause if they were fired.[10] Nevertheless, the closure of the Mishor Adumim factory was announced in October 2015.[11]

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Many Palestinians are employed at Mishor Adumim where they can make between double to triple the common wages in the Palestinian territories. One Palestinian worker said "I can bring a million people who want to work here".[12]

The Rami Levy supermarket in Mishor Adumim is widely patronized by Palestinians, although Palestinian Authority Economy Minister Hassan Abu Libdeh warned them in 2010 not to buy there. Many of the employees are also Palestinian.[13] On December 3, 2014, a Palestinian teenager entered the supermarket and stabbed two Israeli shoppers.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Geneva Convention and Israeli Settlements". BBC. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Israeli Settlements and International Law". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  3. ↑ Adumim Industrial Park
  4. ↑ Down the road from SodaStream, a complicated coexistence, Haaretz
  5. ↑ PA warns Palestinian shoppers
  6. ↑ BioJerusalem: Adumim Food Ingredients
  7. ↑ At SodaStream Palestinians hope their bubble won't burst
  8. ↑ SodaStream Misses Q3 Earnings, Cuts View; To Close Facility by Zacks Equity Research. Yahoo! Finance, October 30, 2014.
  9. ↑ SodaStream Boss Admits West Bank Plant Is 'a Pain' — Praises Scarlett Johansson
  10. ↑ Last Palestinian employees at SodaStream lose their jobs
  11. ↑ "Palestinian workers praise SodaStream - and Scarlett Johansson". Haaretz. 2 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2015. Nasser, a 28-year-old who has been with the company for two years, said that employees receive “the best conditions there are”
  12. ↑ PA warns Palestinian shoppers, Jerusalem Post
  13. ↑ http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Stabbing-in-Mishor-Adumin-in-the-West-Bank-two-injured-383552
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