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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The information below about Mitzna's not-so-kosher
relationship with businessman Gad Ze'evi has been known for quite a
while. However, it is a sample from today's Ha'aretz on his
overall performance as Mayor of Haifa for nine years.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From an economic standpoint, Mitzna is more of a
pro-business ideologue than even a good portion of the Likud faction.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Bryan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>----------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mitzna's relationship with Ze'evi is somewhat
complicated and invites curiosity; he has a penchant for hiring aides and
advisers with senior military ranks (his aides are sometimes referred to
collectively as "the junta"); and he's a centralist with a reputation for being
arrogant and aloof. Take, for example, the way in which the monthly Haifa city
council meetings are run. Mitzna sits at the head of the table, presiding over
the assembly of 30 council members, 25 of whom are members of his coalition.
Mitzna controls the microphones. At his request, a technician shuts off the
microphones of council members whose comments are not to his
liking. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The most problematic chapter in Mitzna's mayoral
biography concerns his relationship with Gad Ze'evi. Last week, Ze'evi published
an ad in the local Haifa paper congratulating Mitzna on his election as chairman
of the Labor Party. Ze'evi's nephew, Yigal Ze'evi, was Mitzna's political aide.
In 1996, Gad Ze'evi, together with a group of businessmen that included Uri Dori
and Yaakov Engel, financed the "Haifa Adifa" ("Haifa is Better") promotional
campaign, which indirectly served the political interests of the city's
mayor. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ze'evi gave, and he also received. In August 2000,
long before Amram Mitzna ever thought that he might actually be running for
prime minister one day, Yoram Gavison revealed in Ha'aretz that the Haifa
Municipality was selling lands to Ze'evi at a loss. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Mitzna, in his role as chairman of the local
construction and planning commission, was ready to grant Ze'evi building rights
that businesspeople in other cities could only dream about," Gavison wrote.
"This included, among others, the Grand Canyon project and the David Yellin
project, where the building rights were worth about $100 million. The Haifa
Municipality also is not in any rush to collect the surcharges that Ze'evi owes
it. It sometimes even exempts itself completely from this unpleasant task, even
though it gave Ze'evi benefits worth enormous sums, and expressed a willingness
to give him additional benefits worth even more." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gavison revealed, for example, that in the case of
the Grand Canyon mall - the large shopping center in the Yizra'eliya
neighborhood, which was completed in 1999 and considered the flagship of
Ze'evi's business interests in Haifa - the Haifa Municipality acquired land from
the Israel Lands Administration valued according to a 1997 appraisal at NIS 5
million per dunam, but leased the land to Ze'evi at a price of just NIS 400,000
per dunam (or, per quarter-acre, in accordance with a 1979 appraisal). Ze'evi
later changed the designated use of parts of the mall from office space to
commercial space, but did not pay the resulting surcharges. Ze'evi also received
from Mitzna retroactive approval for construction of four additional apartments
in Migdalei Elisha and was not asked to pay a surcharge. Ze'evi also obtained
extraordinarily generous building rights in Mercaz Hacarmel. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In the City Center project in Haifa's German
Colony, Ze'evi received building rights that were expanded on the basis of his
commitment to build offices and a hotel on the site. Ze'evi subsequently sought
to convert the designation to office space alone. At a February 1999 meeting,
the local construction and planning commission approved the use of 4,200 extra
meters of office space and rented half of the area from
Ze'evi. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mitzna: "The entrepreneurs are the fuel that gets
things moving. Ze'evi didn't receive anything. I use him more than he uses me.
It's all nonsense. He didn't get any breaks." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Less well-known businesspeople were also treated
warmly by Mitzna. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"There's no mayor like him in the country," says
Yisrael Shotland, head of the Israeli Institute for Export and International
Cooperation and a former chairman of the Haifa Industrialists Association
(1997-2000). "Before there was a directive from the Interior Ministry
prohibiting the granting of discounts on municipal taxes for industry, he tried
to help us. There was a joint committee of the municipality and the
industrialists that met and allotted discounts. There was a problem with the
matter of signs - there's a tax on billboards, and he gave discounts on the tax
and spread out the payments. Mitzna is certainly a man of principles, but it's
possible to come to an understanding with him on everything." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mitzna: "I did not give any discounts in municipal
or other taxes or anything else. It's simply untrue. No such thing happened. I
am very scrupulous about adhering to the law." </FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>