Intel Fab 28 grant approved

The chipmaker likes to get a local contribution to its fab finances in exchange for promises of jobs and jam tomorrow. However, it was made to hold its breath over the weekend as last week's discussions in the parliamentary finance committee were postponed.

Bulldozers had already begun moving the earth around the site of the proposed fab when the decision was put on ice. Now construction work at the $4.5 billion Fab at Qiriat Gat will steam ahead.

The fab - number 28 - is expected to employ around 2,400 people, with a further couple of thousand lined up for casual work.

Intel is also to tart up its existing fab - number 18 - at Qiriat Gat, spending a further half a billion dollars or so.

The fab site at Qiriat Gat is somewhat controversial, as it is located on land which belonged to a former Arab village called Iraq al-Manshiya. Residents of the village mysteriously fled their homes some time in 1949, following Israel's War of Independence.

Under terms of an Armistice Agreement signed between Egypt and Israel in February of that year, the safety of Iraq al-Manshiya's 2,000 Arab residents and their property had been guaranteed.

Maybe they'll be offered jobs in the new fab µ