Business in Brief

A convoy of thousands of farmers driving hundreds of trucks, tractors and assorted agricultural machinery hailing from all over Israel crawled yesterday from Ha'arava junction in the south toward Faran junction, deliberately blocking the flow of traffic along the Arava highway to protest government policies vis-a-vis foreign workers. The farmers claim the government broke its agreement with them to allow 3,000 Thai workers into Israel to replace the thousands that have left this year, after their contracts expired. The farmers say they're allowed to employ 27,500 foreign workers but in practice, were able to hire less than 24,000. It's pepper-picking season, a billion-shekel industry, and farmers from the Arava alone need 700 more workers than they have, they say. (Amiram Cohen)

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss will not be acting on Shari Arison's complaint against the governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer, and Supervisor of Banks Rony Hizkiyahu. Arison had complained in May about their conduct in respect to their demand that she fire Danny Dankner, chairman of Bank Hapoalim, in which she owns the controlling interest. Lindenstrauss met with Fischer, Hizkiyahu and Dankner before deciding to drop the whole thing. He did however recommend that the Bank of Israel hold its own internal inquiry. (Zvi Zrahiya)