ABSTRACT
Shortages in capital for investment in manufacturing were relieved during the mid-1950s, largely due to German reparation payments, which commenced in 1953 (Bank of Israel 1965), and to the shift in national priorities from agriculture to manufacturing (see Tables 2.1 and 3.1). Thus, an accelerated development of import-substituting industry began (Halevi and Klinov-Malul 1968). Complaints about discrimination against private sector industry intensified during these early years of rapid industrialisation. Hillel Dan, heading Solel Boneh, was appointed by the government to manage the company allocating the reparations. The reparations enabled vast industrial development of the Federation of Labour’s Solel Boneh-Koor, some of which took place in development towns (Dan 1963; Biltski 1974).
