Winter Wonderland

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Can Eilat remainthe Red Sea's top vacation hot spot?

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HAIM SHAPIRO SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

A

haron Dekel, chairman of
the Eilat (Israel) Hotel As-
sociation, is concerned
about the prospect of com-
peting with neighboring Akaba,
Jordan, and hotels in the south-
ern Sinai, but he believes his city
can retain its place as the area's
top tourist destination.
The way to compete, he says, is
through increased development.
There will always be some tourists
who want to stay at a secluded ho-
tel where they can lie on a quiet
beach, he says, but most visitors
want to be where the action is, and
the action is in Eilat.
"If we want Eilat to remain the
main city in the Red Sea area, we
have to build more hotels and
more shopping centers," he says.

Eilat is at a disadvantage with
regard to prices, Mr. Dekel ad-
mits, mainly because a hotel
worker in Jordan or Egypt makes
$70 to $100 a month. A similar
worker in Israel costs an em-

more shopping centers. The prox-
imity of a modern hospital is
something many travelers also
consider when planning a vaca-
tion, he adds.
Unfortunately, Eilat has some
airport problems.
Tourism Minister Uzi Baram
appealed recently to his colleague,
Transport Minister Yisrael
Kessar, as well as to the police, to
increase the number of police han-
dling incoming passengers both
at Ben-Gurion Airport and Uvda
Airport, which handles nearly all
ployer $1,200 a month, including Eilat charter flights.
room and board.
According to Mr. Baram, only
Mr. Dekel says, however, that two or three of the 12 police posts
tourists will pay more to stay in at Uvda are operating, forcing
a place where there are more at- tourists to wait up to two or three
tractions, more restaurants and hours for passport checks. ❑

ear

Most visitors
want to be where
the action is.

L'Oreal Announces
New Israel Investments

Washington (JTA) — Mired in
controversy over its alleged corn-
• pliance with the Arab boycott of
Israel, the international cosmet-
ics giant L'Oreal is about to make
a multimillion dollar series of in-
vestments in several Israeli ven-
tures.
The plans, which include a
manufacturing plant, an export
agreement and a focus on re-
search and development, repre-
sent a bold departure for the
company, which has been criti-
cized for bowing to Arab pressure
not to do business with Israel.
The question remains, howev-
er, whether these investments
will mollify opponents of the com-
pany, who include several Jew-
ish groups and at least two
members of Congress.
In a telephone interview from
his Paris office, L'Oreal Vice Pres-
ident Jean Pierre Valeriola said
the company is taking these steps
because "Israel is a country with
a good economy, and we are try-
ing to develop our market."
L'Oreal has come under heat-
ed criticism since the 1980s for
alleged compliance with the Arab
boycott of Israel. As recently as
this past July, New York Demo-
cratic Reps. Charles Schumer
and Jerrold Nadler were calling
for a boycott of the company to
protest its policies toward Israel.

During a French investigation
of charges against L'Oreal,
French police raided the compa-
ny's Paris office and unearthed
correspondence between L'Oreal
and the Arab League's boycott
authorities. In the exchange of
letters, the cosmetics giant said
it would comply with the league's
demands in order to be able to re-
sume doing business with Arab
states.
One of the demands was for
L'Oreal to close the Helena Ru-
binstein manufacturing plant in
Israel. L'Oreal had purchased the
Rubinstein company in 1984. The
plant was closed in 1988.
L'Oreal officials have repeat-
edly denied that the company or
any of its subsidiaries have ever
complied with the boycott.
After an initial $7 million in-
vestment in Israel in May, the
Anti-Defamation League and
B'nai B'rith sent letters to L'Ore-
al praising it for its move.
After learning of L'Oreal's
most recent plans, Jess Hordes,
the ADL Washington represen-
tative, explained his organiza-
tion's approach.
"You judge a company by what
it does. L'Oreal is investing in Is-
rael directly and openly," Mr.
Hordes said. "This is a signal that
the boycott is not part of the com-
pany's policy."

B'nai B'rith also praised
L'Oreal.
"You don't forget that the ad-
herence (to the boycott) took
place, but like the process of mak-
ing peace, you move to a new
plane with new realities," said
Dan Mariaschin, director of in-
ternational, government and Is-
rael affairs for B'nai B'rith.
"One hopes other companies
now follow suit," he added.
But not everyone was as will-
ing to look past the company's
history and believe that the fight
is over.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associ-
ate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal
Center, said Mr. Valeriola told him
in March that L'Oreal would send
a delegation to Israel to study
stepped-up production of its prod-
ucts and it never happened.
"We've heard this before, and
we're concerned about the foot-
dragging," Rabbi Cooper said. "At
least they are talking about mov-
ing in the right direction, but
we've got to wonder why is it tak-
ing so long?"
Mr. Schumer called L'Oreal's
new plans a "good step, but only
a first step."
The congressman said he
would be meeting with L'Oreal
officials in the coming weeks to
discuss their investments.

L'OREAL page 42

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