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(330) 650.1660 8/21 1998 Call The Sales Department (248) 354-7123 Ext. 209 136 Detroit Jewish News Advertise in our new Entertainment Section! t the Century Ladies Wear plant in the industrial zone just outside this northern Jordanian city, hundreds of women are busy sewing, finishing, checking and packing. The workers, nearly all wearing the traditional Arab woman's head covering known as the hijaz, are assembling bras, panties, men's briefs and boxer shorts for such designer brands as Ralph Lauren, Gap, Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secret. The labels on the underwear read "Made in Israel." Under a special agreement passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996, both Israeli and Jordanian industries located in this free-trade zone can export goods to the U.S. market under the customs-free conditions granted to Israeli products. To qualify for free-trade access to the U.S. mar- ket, without reciprocity, at least 20 percent of the production costs or at least 11.7 percent product components must be Israeli. The man who has done more than anyone to make this concept a reality is Century's chief executive, 31- year-old Omar Salah, one of a new breed of American-educated Jordanian financial wizards. Salah relates that his initial inspiration struck as he was dri- ving his car down a California freeway listening to radio reports on the sign- ing of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. With that in mind, he returned to Jordan, set up a business with an American partner and started making forays into Israel to try to convince Israeli companies to set up joint ven- Patricia Golan is a writer for the Jerusalem Post Foreign Service. tures that would rake advantage of Jordan's low production costs. His first targets were those companies who had ties with multinational companies doing business in Israel. Those Israeli firms that compete in the global market began setting up base in Irbid to tap into the lower Jordanian labor costs. And capital- hungry Jordanian firms saw the bene- fits of taking advantage of Israeli expertise and access to European and U.S. markets. Today Century has built successful joint ventures with 10 of the 57 companies that have set up shop in the Irbid zone, such as Danone, Motorola and Sarah Lee, which owns shares in the Israeli Delta Galil textile company. Delta was the first Israeli company to set up opera- tions in Irbid. With his longish, trendy haircut, pale-green sports jacket and matching tie, and American-accented English, Salah reminds one of an upper class Yalie. Even his secretary resembles an American college girl, with her cropped hair and striped, above-the- knees overalls. Century's corporate office in Amman, how- ever, is pure Arabian opulence, with marble floors and wooden door fittings in the shape of the company logo. Until fairly recently, Salah assiduously tried to keep his name our of the press. Many Jordanians, particularly members of the opposi- tion parties, consider him "defiled" by his business association with the Israelis. They are adamantly opposed to the free-trade zone, fearing economic domi,-___/ nation by the mythically powerful Zionist entity, and believe the United States designated the zone to help Israel make deeper economic inroads into Jordan. The Jordanian profession- al unions have even called for a boy- cott of anyone who works in the zone, and Salah himself has been threatened. Jordan's most widely read columnic --/ on economic issues, Fahed Fanek, dis- misses this opposition alarm. "I think most of the objections are based on politics rather than economics, - he argues. "This free-trade agreement is a virtual gift, since America does not require Jordan to open its markets for