14. 6. 2006: Alleged Israeli corruption at Karni impedes U.S.

WikiLeaks: Coca-Cola Reveals Corruption On Israeli Border

www.aftenposten.no

According to business contacts, allegations of corruption at Karni have a long history. Recently, COGAT head General Yossef Mishlev acknowledged the problem telling EconCouns that corruption was the root cause of backlogged shipments waiting to cross into Gaza at Karni and that some businessmen have had to pay NIS 9,000 (USD 2,500) to guarantee that their shipments could cross (reftel).

These companies include Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble, Caterpillar, Philip Morris, Westinghouse, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Aramex, and Dell computers.

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It seems that corruption in the land of the holyer than thou is flourishing.

This is ofcourse only on the border to Gaza securing that the Palestinians do not get their Coca-Cola, if that is a bad thing I'm not gonna make a comment on, not Phillip Morris either...

But tech from HP and Dell is more concerning IMO.

www.aftenposten.no
(visit the link for the full news article)

I actually saw some of this first hand in November. I was at a border crossing between Jordan and Israel. Everyone was crammed into this holding pen together (Jews, Arabs, tourists, everyone). Though there were 4-5 stations for the first of several passport checks, there was only one manned at the time. Then we saw one guy allowed to the head of the line. They lowered the barrier, let him through, then raised the barrier again. It turns out he provided a $100 bribe to get through faster. The whole crowd became a bit unruly, especially the Americans, who are more affronted at this behavior than people who just see it as a way of life.

The border guards on the whole were very arrogant (IMO) and did not seem at all concerned about efficiency. Our Jordanian friend warned us it would be a hassle and be a couple of hours to get across the border, and it certainly was.

Bribery is a part of the culture in the mid-east.. If you dont bribe nothing gets done or it takes forever to get done...