Thursday, January 19.1995 — THE BULLETIN — 7
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By ARIELA FRIEDMANN
Israel wants to become known as the economic "jumping pad" to the Middle East, just as British Columbia is known as the gateway to the Asian Pacific.
An ebullient Eli Yeru-shalmi, counsellor at the Embassy of Israel in Ottawa, was in Vancouver at the end of 1994 to keynote Canadian Zionist Federation's annual general meeting (coverage JWB Jan. 5).
The counsellor also used his time here to advocate economic development and investment in Israel and discuss recent events in the Middle East,
In an interview with The Bulletin, Yerushalmi outlined his work at the embassy and touted the benefits of investing in the Jewish State.
The counsellor — a diplomatic ranking denoting second-in-command at an embassy — explained that he is assigned to promote government contacts between Israel and Canada and liaison with Canadian Jewish leadership.
It is also his responsibility
to monitor Canadian domestic affairs so that the Israeli government is aware of issues that may have global consequences, such as the impending Quebec referendum.
"Mainly, I'm looking to find ways to improve the relationship with Israel and Canada, especially on an
economy," he enthused.
For example, in May 1994 a Canadian-Israeli foundation was formed. CIIRDF (Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation) is a joint venture program developing, as its name suggests, industrial research.
And high-tech seems to be the future direction of
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economic level," the Israeli native declared in fluent English.
Israeli-Canadian relationships have always been friendly, he observed, but in the last two years there "has been a great movement forward" on an economic level. "Discussions with Canadians are now less to do with politics and more to do with
Canada-Israel trade. Yerushalmi stated that Israel has the know-how while Canada can offer the raw materials.
Already, exports-imports between the two countries hover around the $200 million mark, the 40-year-old attache reported. However, since Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's Nov. 23, 1994 visit to Canada — his second
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to the community.
Getz has served on the boards of the Cherniaysky Junior Club for the Performing Arts, Vancouver Academy of Music, Community Arts Council of Vancouver, Vancouver Cultural Alliance and the Mayor's Council Committee on the Arts. She has also acted as advisor on programming and artist selection to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Leila is married to Leon, a lawyer with the firm of Getz Karby. The couple have two grown children.
So what will Getz do for an encore?
"It's going to be hard to top this," the 54-year-old music lover laughed. "But I'm going to keep trying. 1 love what I do and the word 'retire' isn't even in my vocabulary."
Vienna-born Oberlander told The Bulletin that he is "proud and excited" at this latest honor.
"As a Canadian by choice," the planner said, "I now feel honored that Canada has chosen me."
Oberlander studied architecture at Montreal's McGill University and received a PhD in city planning from Harvard University.
He was founding director of both the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning and the Centre for Human Settlements in the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
The war-time immigrant to Canada was chair of the Vancouver Town Planning Commission in the '60s and served as chair of the Vancouver School Board in the '70s.
During former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's first
administration, Oberlander served as inaugural deputy minister of urban affairs in Ottawa. He was instrumental in bringing Habitat, the United Nations conference on human settlements, to Vancouver in 1976.
After four decades of teaching and research in community and regional planning at UBC, Oberlander succumbed to an offer to teach metropolitan planning at Simon Eraser University.
He began his fifth year of teaching at the Burnaby mountaintop campus last week.
A fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the award recipient is also a member of Downs Archambault and Partners, Architects and Planners, in Vancouver.
The planner has a long history of involvement with the Jewish community. He currently serves as a director on the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver board and was the inaugural president of the Jewish Festival of the Arts Society, 1986-88.
Oberlander described himself as "deeply involved" with Canadian Friends of Hebrew University. He noted that in 1979 he initiated the Canadian Stu-
dies program at the university.
Since that time, the program has turned into the full-fledged Halbert Centre for Canadian Studies. Oberlander continues to serve on the advisory committee that selects the centre's annual visiting scholars.
He and wife Cornelia are founding members of Temple Sholom, where Oberlander was feted at Friday night services Jan. 6 for his latest achievement. The couple have three grown children and two grandchildren.
And no jealousy will prevail in the Oberlander household over the Order of Canada honor: Wife Cornelia, one of the country's foremost landscape architects, was appointed to the Order five years ago.
meeting with Jean Chretien in one year — there has been an opening of negotiations for a Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.
Israel has already signed free trade agreements with the U.S. and the European Community. And that fact could be a stepping stone for Canadian investors. Yerushalmi pointed out with fervor.
Canadians who want business with the EC could do so via trade with Israel first, the counsellor suggested. He believes Israel could also be used as a "jumping pad" for economic contacts with the Arab world.
In fact, he said, Israel is on the same track as foreign investors. "Israel's first goal is peace with her neighbors. The second goal is an open economy with the Arab world."
Why should Canadian businesses invest in Israel? "Because Israel is a good investment." Yeushalmi responded without pause. "Israel is the fastest growing economy in the Western world."
The counsellor sees several reasons for the investment bandwagon. First, he cited, Israel is "settling down. People understand that Israel is a strong economic force." Second, the peace process shows that there is stability in the Mid-
YERUSHALMI... "lera®! is tfi® im%m% growing @conomy in the Western wortd."
die East, he stressed.
And even should the peace process fail — though an optimistic Yerushalmi is far from convinced that this could happen — he doesn't
believe that it would affect the economy.
Yerushalmi, himself an expert in international relations and Jewish history, also touched on the current situation in the Middle East.
"The Israeli government," he explained, "is involved in the peace process for one major reason: to take the chance, this first-time opportunity, to have peace with our neighbors."
Yerushalmi is a great believer in peace. Noting that while he fought in the 1973 war against Egypt — only 12 years later he crossed into Egypt to serve for two years as vice-consul at the Consulate General of
TORONTO -Bookstores began when its founder commerce
Coles in 1934 was a student at the
Toronto and Israel, including the Baycrest Centre and Bathurst JCC.
Israel in Alexandria.
"Arabs understand that Israel is going to stay in the area forever," he stressed to JWB. "The best way to cope with this is to co-exist in peace."
At the same time, Yerushalmi emphasized as of the utmost importance, the fact that Palestinians must receive world funding. Elaborating, he noted that a stable economy and an established middle-class decreases desire "to create war."
The Palestinians, however, must first implement an accountability system before "donating countries" turn over millions in promised funds. Israel is helping, he reported, by transferring civil authority control to the Palestinians.
In all this push for peace, Yerushalmi agrees that, in the end, it is the people, not the government, who will decide the Middle East's future course-. In 1996, he pointed out, Israel holds national elections.
University of Toronto. The original Book Exchange textbook buy/sell store was a seed for Coles bookstore.
When 82-year-old founder Carl Cole passed away Dec. 12 in Toronto of cancer, the original store had multiplied to include 137 outlets in North America. Coles had been sold to Southam in 1978.
An active member of the Jewish community, Carl Cole and his wife Pearl supported many charities in
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