Y2K Bugs the Arabs
JINSA Note: The following item was supplied by the Israeli Consulate in New York.
ISRAEL AMONG TOP COUNTRIES IN Y2K PREPAREDNESS (Israel Line 6/23/99) Israel is among the 12 most prepared nations in the world for the Year 2000 bug, according to a report published on Tuesday at the second International Conference of Y2K Coordinators, [the Israeli newspaper] Ha’aretz reported. World Bank experts divided the nations of the world into four groups, according to the expected rate of Y2K problems.
JINSA Note: The following item was supplied by the Israeli Consulate in New York.
ISRAEL AMONG TOP COUNTRIES IN Y2K PREPAREDNESS (Israel Line 6/23/99) Israel is among the 12 most prepared nations in the world for the Year 2000 bug, according to a report published on Tuesday at the second International Conference of Y2K Coordinators, [the Israeli newspaper] Ha’aretz reported. World Bank experts divided the nations of the world into four groups, according to the expected rate of Y2K problems. Israel was grouped with the United States in the first group, nations whose rate of Y2K problems was estimated to be 15 percent.
Most of the United Nation’s member-nations sent representatives to discuss government, economic, and emergency services’ readiness for the Y2K bug. Israel’s team was headed by Rafi Peled, chair of the Israel Electric Company and coordinator of the Y2K coordination effort.
Arab representatives to the UN conference were outraged to find the Israeli representatives grouped together with them in the Middle East and North African group. Israeli representatives who arrived for the final discussion on Monday found themselves waiting in an empty room for two-and-a-half hours while Arab representatives stood at the door and refused to go in until the Israelis left, thereby canceling the discussion. [The Israeli newspaper] Ma’ariv reported that Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dore Gold expressed his disappointment with the Arab representatives’ behavior. He said that instead of breaking down barriers, the Arab missions are creating new ones.
JINSA Note: Interesting that the UN finally put Israel in a regional grouping that reflects its actual location – it almost sounds as if some real thinking was going on there. Putting Israel in its usual “Western European and Other” group would have put it with other countries that are relatively Y2K compliant. Putting Israel in the ME group would have allowed the Arab countries (which are far, far behind, with serious implications for the oil industry) to benefit from Israeli advances. Too bad the Arabs are not only non-compliant for Y2K – they are non-compliant with the whole second half of the 20th Century.