Buffett, Israel and a Palestinian medical crisis
Buffett's 'monumental' vote of confidence in Israel economy
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly predicted in his Saturday night conversation with Eitan Wertheimer, chairman of the board of Iscar - the metal-cutting tools firm in which American investor Warren Buffett acquired an 80% stake over the weekend [db: for $4 billion] - that this deal "will be spoken of in the same light as the Balfour Declaration**." Even if Olmert laid it on a bit thick, his general sentiment isn't misplaced.
The fact that the world's second-richest man (after Bill Gates) has chosen Israel for his Berkshire-Hathaway investment firm's third largest acquisition ever cannot be judged as anything but a monumental vote of confidence in Israel's economy. Link
Palestinian doctors say the cutoff of funds to the new Hamas-led government is causing a growing crisis in the Palestinian healthcare system, and has already contributed to the deaths of some patients.
For the first time since he became director of the Ramallah Hospital in 1998, Dr. Husni Atari said, the facility is running out of medicines, sterile dressings, and other disposables. None of his 346 doctors, nurses, and ancillary staff has received salaries from the Palestinian Ministry of Finance since February, he added in an interview.
Ramallah Hospital is the main medical referral center for the West Bank, with 155 beds, treating 20,000 in-patients and 70,000 emergency cases each year.
''The doctors and other staff are still coming to work even though they have not been paid. Soon they will have no money to get to the hospital. When I look at my store cupboards, I see things are in danger of collapse. If this goes on, we will have to close," Atari said.
...''More than 160 patients who have kidney failure eventually will die," said Ayman al Sisi, a senior nurse in charge of the renal department. He said five patients had died recently because of a lack of proper treatment resulting from the drop in resources.
At the same hospital, Asmaa al Saidi, a 56-year-old breast cancer patient, was lying unconscious and close to death because the hospital has run out of supplies to perform chemotherapy, which doctors said had been readily available until the funding freeze.
''What crime has my mother done to be punished by Israel and the US?" asked her son, Ismail Siyam, 38. ''I blame any one with a sense of humanity who does not help us."Link
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly predicted in his Saturday night conversation with Eitan Wertheimer, chairman of the board of Iscar - the metal-cutting tools firm in which American investor Warren Buffett acquired an 80% stake over the weekend [db: for $4 billion] - that this deal "will be spoken of in the same light as the Balfour Declaration**." Even if Olmert laid it on a bit thick, his general sentiment isn't misplaced.
The fact that the world's second-richest man (after Bill Gates) has chosen Israel for his Berkshire-Hathaway investment firm's third largest acquisition ever cannot be judged as anything but a monumental vote of confidence in Israel's economy. Link
**Balfour Declaration - excerpt: His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. LinkPalestinian medical crisis looms
Palestinian doctors say the cutoff of funds to the new Hamas-led government is causing a growing crisis in the Palestinian healthcare system, and has already contributed to the deaths of some patients.
For the first time since he became director of the Ramallah Hospital in 1998, Dr. Husni Atari said, the facility is running out of medicines, sterile dressings, and other disposables. None of his 346 doctors, nurses, and ancillary staff has received salaries from the Palestinian Ministry of Finance since February, he added in an interview.
Ramallah Hospital is the main medical referral center for the West Bank, with 155 beds, treating 20,000 in-patients and 70,000 emergency cases each year.
''The doctors and other staff are still coming to work even though they have not been paid. Soon they will have no money to get to the hospital. When I look at my store cupboards, I see things are in danger of collapse. If this goes on, we will have to close," Atari said.
...''More than 160 patients who have kidney failure eventually will die," said Ayman al Sisi, a senior nurse in charge of the renal department. He said five patients had died recently because of a lack of proper treatment resulting from the drop in resources.
At the same hospital, Asmaa al Saidi, a 56-year-old breast cancer patient, was lying unconscious and close to death because the hospital has run out of supplies to perform chemotherapy, which doctors said had been readily available until the funding freeze.
''What crime has my mother done to be punished by Israel and the US?" asked her son, Ismail Siyam, 38. ''I blame any one with a sense of humanity who does not help us."Link
posted by exoplanet at 12:31 AM
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