MCDONALD'S CONFIRMS 'NO-ARABIC' POLICY AT ITS RESTAURANTS IN ISRAEL
Ali Abunimah & Nigel Parry, Electronic Intifada, 3/5/04
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2476.shtml
McDonald's Corporation today confirmed that it has a policy banning its
employees from speaking Arabic in its restaurants in Israel, despite the
fact that Palestinian citizens of Israel form 20% of its workforce, and
Arabic is one of the two official languages of Israel. The Corporation
denied, however, that Abeer Zinaty, a former "Excellent Worker 2003 --
McDonald's Israel," was fired because she spoke Arabic on the job.
EI co-founder Ali Abunimah received a statement from Julie Pottebaum, a
spokesperson for Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's corporation, after EI
contacted the company about the allegations contained in an article in
Al-Ahram Weekly [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/680/re104.htm ]
EI also issued an action alert to its readers
[http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2475.shtml ] prompting calls and
emails from all over the world, urging McDonald's to investigate
allegations that it had a no-Arabic policy, and that at least one employee
had been fired for violating it. EI received copies of emails sent to
McDonald's from concerned readers in the US, the Czech Republic, and Jordan
among other countries.
The McDonald's statement said that it was "absolutely not true" that Abeer
Zinaty had been fired because she spoke Arabic on the job, and asserted
that, "her employment was terminated by her supervisor, a Palestinian Arab
who also speaks Arab, for performance-related reasons..."
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ISRAEL REFUSING TO RETURN ENRICHED URANIUM RECEIVED FROM U.S.
Aluf Benn, Haaretz, 3/7/04
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/402043.html
Israeli is refusing to return to the United States enriched uranium it
received from the Americans many years ago for the refueling of the nuclear
research facility at Nahal Sorek, according to an internal U.S. Department
of Energy report.
According to the report, the American administration has been working since
1996 to return enriched Uranium that was given to friendly countries under
the Atoms for Peace program. The collection of the nuclear fuel was meant
to prevent its being misused for nuclear weapons construction. The American
Department of Energy has so far been able to collect just 2.6 tons, while
15 tons of enriched uranium is still being held by former members of the
program.
Israel is included in a list of 12 countries that the report says "are not
expected to take part in the program," and which hold roughly half of the
uranium that has yet to be collected. Other countries on the list include
Iran, Pakistan, South Africa, France, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands...
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